Polish prelate denies all sex harassment charges

One of the highest-ranking Catholic officials in Pope John Paul II's homeland has denied allegations of sexual harassment in an open letter that he ordered read in all churches in his archdiocese yesterday.

"I deny all the information published by the media and I assure you that it is a misinterpretation of my words and behaviour," the Archbishop of Poznan, Juliusz Paetz, said of the allegations that surfaced last month and have prompted a church investigation.

"The biggest criminals have a right to anonymity unless a court decides otherwise," said Archbishop Paetz, 67. "I was deprived of that. Mass media have already judged me and sentenced me."

Poland's Catholic Church said last month that the Vatican was looking into the allegations published in Poland's Rzeczpospolita newspaper, which cited unidentified priests as saying that the archbishop had been accused by numerous priests of sexual harassment.

"Since the case described has been passed on to the Holy See, it will undoubtedly be clarified and solved," the church's press office said then in a brief statement. Archbishop Paetz has said the allegations are part of a campaign to defame him.

Some priests in the northwestern Polish archdiocese refused to read his letter, others informed the faithful that they would read it because the archbishop obliged them to.

Archbishop Paetz worked at the Vatican from 1967 to 1976 in the Bishops' Synod Secretariat. Juliusz Paetz was made a bishop in 1982 and an archbishop in 1996.

The allegations come at an embarrassing time for the Polish church, with the pontiff due to visit in August – his first trip home since 1999.(AP)