Pope accepts resignation of Polish bishop after ‘orgy’ scandal in diocese

The bishop resigned after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation over reports from last month that the priest had organised a sex party

File. Pope Francis during his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square at The Vatican, on 18 October 2023 (Associated Press)

The Pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been hit by reports of an orgy involving priests and a male sex worker.

The Vatican did not give any reason for the departure of 59-year-old Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland.

The bishop resigned after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation over reports from last month that he had organised a sex party. It was also alleged that the male sex worker who had been invited to the orgy involving priests from the diocese had lost consciousness due to an overdose of erectile dysfunction pills.

In September, Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily Polish newspaper, published a report stating that during the gathering, which took place in a facility owned by the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels in Dabrowa Gornicza, one of the priests had contacted emergency services to request an ambulance. But the paper — according to the New York Times — reported that the priests at the event hindered paramedics from helping the unconscious man. Paramedics later called the police and only then the priests relented.

Waldemar Lubniewski, spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Sosnowiec, said at the time the investigation was focused on a “failure to provide assistance to a person in a situation that poses an immediate threat of loss of life or serious damage to health”.

Father Tomasz Z, the priest who allegedly arranged the sex party within his church apartment, was identified solely by the diocese. He spoke with the Polish media last month, contesting the specific details of the incident. He questioned the accuracy of the count of priests present during the alleged sex party and remarked, “it is worth reading what the definition of an orgy is”.

He brushed off the controversy over the events in his apartment as “an obvious attack on the church, including the clergy and believers” and said that the uproar would not have happened if “something similar had happened” to a person outside the clergy.

But the diocese largely corroborated the media reports. It said that an outside investigative commission had concluded that Father Tomasz committed “a very serious violation of moral norms” as well as of his obligations as a priest.

In a statement last month, the diocese said that the “participation” of Father Tomasz “in what happened on the night of August 30-31 is not in doubt”. It said that he had been stripped of all functions at the diocese and was “sent to live outside the parish”.

Kaszak announced his resignation on 24 October but did not provide any more details. He has not been accused of having been involved in the alleged orgy but reports say he is being held responsible for the conduct of the priests under his diocese.

“I ask everyone to forgive my human limitations,” he wrote in his statement. “If I have offended anyone or neglected something, I am very sorry.”

Kaszak was designated as a bishop in 2009 by the then-Pope Benedict XVI, following a brief stint as the second-in-command in the Vatican’s family office.

The Vatican embassy in Poland has announced that Archbishop Adrian Galbas of Katowice will serve as a temporary administrator, overseeing the diocese of Sosnowiec until the appointment of a new bishop.