Tell No One: YouTube documentary shows sex abuse victims confronting Catholic priestsThat most Catholic of European countries, Poland, is having a major child abuse scandal involving Catholic priests all of its own. Whether this results in the same rejection of Catholicism that we've seen in Ireland and elsewhere remains to be seen.
The documentary, Tell No One, which includes secret recordings of Catholic priests being confronted by their victims and confessing to the abuses, has provoked a storm of outrage, having already had more that 21 million views on YouTube, which has resulted in moves to double the prison sentence for paedophiles from 15 to 30 years.
Warning: This video, which has English subtitles, has been described as "difficult" but is regarded as essential viewing for those who wish to understand the sheer horror of what was done to children by Catholic priests under cover of their perceived righteousness and trust.
One scene shows a priest arguing that abuse is not sinful if there is no orgasm.
As with Ireland, Catholicism has always been part of Poland's national identity since 966 CE, being as different from Russian Orthodoxy and German Lutheran Protestantism as was Irish Catholicism from English and Scottish Protestantism. To be Polish is to be Catholic. It is probably no coincidence that the first non-Italian pope for centuries was the Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla who came to symbolise Polish resistance to Soviet Communism. The leaders of Solidarność, Lech Wałęsa, was proudly Catholic, as were the leader of Irish resistance to British rule, especially latterly.
The question now is whether this abuse scandal will be the first of many, as when the dam burst in Ireland and all the full horror of what priests and nuns had been getting away with came flooding out. If so will this leads to the same collapse in moral authority of the church in Poland, the same rejection of its repugnant teaching with its victimisation and demonisation of minorities and repression of women, and so to the same liberalisation of public policy and private morality as we have seen in Ireland?
Will the Polish people see through the charade of the rapid elevation of the 'Polish Pope', John Paul II, to the sainthood, to help secure the continuing support of Poland? Or will they see how he presided over the coverups and facilitation of paedophilia in the Catholic Church, using people like his successor, the former Nazi, Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XIV, to attempt to suppress the scandals and bully people into keeping quiet about it?
Hopefully, the truth about the Catholic Church in Poland is beginning to emerge in all its horrific glory. Tweet
Indeed Sir, is there no end to this madness.
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