Academic debate at the Catholic University of Lublin: “Cardinal Karol Wojtyła - facts, archives, interpretations”.

Media publications concerning Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, including the accusations levelled against him, as well as the surveillance of the communist secret police and repressions of the Catholic Church and the clergy, were the central theme of the academic debate “Cardinal Karol Wojtyła - facts, archives, interpretations”. Historians and experts on the history of the Catholic Church in Poland agreed that diligent work of historians, who are capable of a competent evaluation of historical records and who consider the historical context of the events described by the media, is crucial in this matter.

Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, Fr. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, who opened the debate, pointed out that Karol Wojtyła, a lecturer at this University between 1953 and 1978, spent here nearly 25 years of his life as a scholar and academic lecturer.

Father Rector recalled the words spoken by Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Catholic University of Lublin in 1987: “University, serve the truth. If you serve the truth, you serve freedom, the liberation of man and the nation; you serve life”. We want these words to not only reverberate within us, but also to change us so that we might follow the path of truth, stressed Fr. Prof. Kalinowski.

The meeting, chaired by journalist Krzysztof Ziemiec, focused among others on media publications concerning Cardinal Karol Wojtyła as Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow, including allegations of covered-up sexual abuse cases. Experts moreover highlighted the socio-historical context of the time in which Cardinal Wojtyła lived, his surveillance by the secret services of the communist regime and the methodology of working with archival materials, including the resources of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). A recording of the event is available on the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin's channel on YouTube.

Dr. Ewa K. Czaczkowska – a journalist, publicist, lecturer, and spokesperson of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, who has for years researched the history of the Catholic Church, when asked about the recent attack on the authority of John Paul II in the media, offered a negative assessment of journalists’ materials on this subject.

“If I were to assess these findings, which are also the reason we meet today, I would say that indeed I think that the aim was not exactly to pursue the truth. We could actually say that, since we know today that these materials greatly diverged from facts and real events, their aim was to tarnish and slay the authority of this man”, said the expert, referring to the allegations concerning Wojtyła's covering up sexual abuse in his capacity of Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow. Such allegations were made in Marcin Gutowski's report Franciszkańska 3 aired on TVN24, as well as in Ekke Overbeek's book Maxima Culpa. John Paul II Knew.

Dr. Ewa Czaczkowska observed: This film and this book appeared together, of course, for good reason. I am confident that they – even if I am thinking primarily of the film, as there is probably no point in discussing the book – are inherently manipulative in three ways. First, at the level of the hypothesis put forward. Second, at the level of the sources, which is highly significant. Finally, the manipulation concerns the victims of these paedophile priests. The expert moreover indicated earlier articles published by Rzeczpospolita daily, whose authors, Tomasz Krzyżak and Piotr Litka, having had access to the same documents and many more, arrived at conclusions completely different from those reached by Marcin Gutowski and Ekke Overbeek.

The journalist found especially outrageous the accusations levelled at Cardinal Adam Sapieha, the carer and superior of Karol Wojtyła, which, as has recently been described by Rzeczpospolita, were most likely a result of reliance on forged files.

Prof. Łucja Marek – a historian from the Historical Research Bureau of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Krakow, who specialises in the subject of state-church relations in the period of the People's Republic of Poland, including the operational methods of the security services against the Catholic Church, recalled that from the very beginning in 1945 until 1989, the communist regime treated the Catholic Church and the clergy as enemies. In this context, she highlighted the assassinations of priests by the secret police (SB), pointing among others to Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko and most probably Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki. The scholar recalled the magnitude of the regime's surveillance of the clergy: Each priest had their own file, in which information on their weaknesses and activities was collected (...). If, in the course of collecting this information, some compromising or incriminating material was obtained, then additional cases were set up in order to investigate it further, to punish the priest or to elicit his cooperation (e.g. as a secret collaborator of the Security Service), explained Prof. Łucja Marek.

Dr. Robert Derewenda– a historian, director of the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin and a lecturer in archival records at the Catholic University of Lublin, when asked whether historical records unambiguously point to Cardinal Karol Wojtyła’s covering up cases of sexual abuse, responded that the key issue is the historians’ critical approach to the resources: We have the cases of several priests and Cardinal Wojtyła's attitude towards what we can euphemistically call these priests’ objectionable conduct. These documents are hard to read in terms of what is described there and with regard to these priests' engaging in a particular conduct. It is a very difficult read and, of course, it evokes great emotions, but (...) one must also approach (the subject) on the basis of facts rather than emotions only. Dr. Robert Derewenda referred also to the much-discussed case of Fr. Józef Lorenc, who was removed from office and punished by the secular authorities.

The historian observed: The most important point now. If indeed the documents that were being produced at that time, the facts that the Security Service was discovering about the appalling behaviour of those priests over whom Cardinal Karol Wojtyła exercised supreme ecclesiastical authority, if indeed these documents and facts could be used, then the first to do so would have been the Security Service officers. We are aware of many different operations against Cardinal Wojtyła, but essentially this case was not taken up by the Security Service.

Prof. Paweł Skibiński of the University of Warsaw, a historian who also specialises in the history of the Catholic Church in the 20th century, discussed the problem of ahistoricism in the publications discussed, including the journalists’ failure to address the context of the events they account for. This concerned, among others, the many incidents when Cardinal Karol Wojtyła offered help to those in need. Prof. Skibiński observed: If we accuse this man of being insensitive to the plight of the victims and the excluded, why do we deal, literally, with three cases of sexual abuse by priests, and not show the context of the activities of the Archbishop of Krakow for over a dozen years.

Asked whether we can be sure that Cardinal Karol Wojtyła did not protect the priests guilty of sexual abuse, the historian replied that, in line with the principles of the Western civilisation, the accusing party must prove that their allegations are justified: How are we supposed to prove that Karol Wojtyła did not do something? This is turned on its head ... Let us ask ourselves if the allegations are credible? We learn that in principle they are not. Do we know anything about Karol Wojtyła’s reaction to the victims? Well, the records of the Institute of National Remembrance make it very hard to say anything about it. The scholar moreover indicated that the allegations were made mainly on the basis of the IPN archival records.

The scholar concluded: It is very difficult for me to say on what basis the authors of these media reports decided that the records of the Institute of National Remembrance are the best source to discuss Karol Wojtyła’s reaction towards the victims. I can understand that these records may indicate his reactions towards priests, but statements on the basis of these documents concerning his reaction towards the victims are far-fetched. In my opinion, we are yet to investigate this subject.