Poland: diocesan commission finds at least 50 minor victims and 25 clergy perpetrators over decades in the Diocese of Sosnowiec

Proceedings

1. 2026-02-13 · official finding published

   Internal diocesan commission, Diocese of Sosnowiec, Poland, with cases referred to the state Państwowa Komisja (PKDP). On 13 February 2026 the Diocese of Sosnowiec published the first part of a commission report documenting at least 50 minor victims of sexual crimes within the diocese, most of them girls under 15, identifying 29 total suspects of whom 25 were clergy. The abuses documented span multiple decades; one priest's pattern of abuse was found to have continued for at least 16 years. Bishop Artur Ważny stated publicly that the report addresses victims but does not yet cover the full range of alleged conduct, and acknowledged that victims were historically 'often treated as a problem' rather than supported. The state commission (PKDP) is separately handling at least two cases referred from this diocese involving statute-of-limitations complications, which may result in entries to Poland's public sex-offender registry. Further diocesan report installments were announced as forthcoming.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• clerical and catechetical authority over children in parish and school settings across the diocese, sustained over decades (one priest's documented abuse ran at least 16 years)
• institutional pattern the report itself found: children who disclosed abuse were 'often treated as a problem' by Church authorities rather than as victims needing protection, per the diocesan bishop's own public acknowledgment