Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland From 1950 to 2021. Methodology and Results

Introduction

Studies on clergy sexual abuse within the Catholic Church have been conducted in many countries (Böhm et al., 2014). Statistical data on the topic most often comes from research conducted by independent teams commissioned by either Church institutions or state agencies. One of the first systematic quantitative studies was carried out by John Jay College, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; this research served as a reference point for subsequent analyses in Germany and also for our study in Poland (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004; Dressing et al., 2021). Overall, these studies reflect a global effort to address historical and contemporary cases of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church (Blasi & Oviedo, 2020). Methodologies varied widely from quantitative data collection to qualitative investigations, highlighting institutional responses and impacts on victims. Public scrutiny and governmental inquiries have led to reforms in Church policies and practices, aiming for transparency and accountability in combating abuse.

In Poland the first data on cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergy and member of religious congregations reported to Church institutions were collected in 2014 by the Coordinator of the Polish Bishops’ Conference (PBC) for the Protection of Children and Youth and Director of the Child Protection Centre, and covered notifications received by dioceses and male religious congregations between 1990 and 2013. Later, in 2018, the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics (ISKK) ¹ designed a new questionnaire for the study. Secretariat of the Polish Bishops’ Conference collected data from all dioceses and male religious congregations on notifications received in the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2018, concerning cases of sexual abuse of minors in the years from 1950 to 1990 (QUERY I). The collection and processing of these data was carried out from October 2018 to March 2019 by the ISKK. In 2020, the ISKK, in cooperation with the PBC Coordinator for the Protection of Children and Youth and the Office of the PBC Delegate for the Protection of Children and Youth, developed a new tool to collect information on notifications of sexual abuse of children and youth received by Church jurisdictions in Poland. With the help of the new tool, at the beginning of 2021, the Office of the PBC Delegate for the Protection of Children and Youth collected all the data on notifications of abuse against minors received by all dioceses and male religious jurisdictions in Poland between 1 July 2018 and 31 December 2020, relating to acts committed between 1950 and 2020 (QUERY II). The third query covering notifications received by Church institutions in 2021 was conducted on a similar basis and using the same questionnaire, at the beginning of 2022 (QUERY III). All data were collected by the Office of the PBC Delegate and then sent to the ISKK for further processing and analysis ² .

In the Query I a printed questionnaire was distributed to be filled by hand in the dioceses and religious jurisdictions. In the Query II and III an online questionnaire was prepared on the server of the PBC Saint Joseph Foundation, to be filled in electronically (with the possibility of manually filling in a printed questionnaire with the same questions). In the Query II and III the questionnaire is much more extensive than in the Query I.

Summary of Measures, Variables, and Procedures

The study is based on a three-point scale for assessing the credibility of allegations, according to which each report was assigned to one of the following three categories: (1) allegations confirmed or substantiated: allegations against clergy on whom the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) imposed penal remedy or penance, or gave warning or rebuke, or imposed non-penal disciplinary measures as well as allegations referred to the DDF as credible following a preliminary investigation according to Article 16 of the Normae de gravioribus delictis (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, 2010), with respect to which the DDF has not yet taken a decision (at the time of completing the questionnaire); (2) allegations under investigation: allegations in cases where the DDF requested a more thorough preliminary investigation, submitted the case directly to the decision of the Holy Father (art. 21 § 2 no. 2) ordered that a judicial or administrative penal process be initiated; (3) allegations not investigated, rejected, or non-credible: allegations not subject to preliminary investigation due to lack of evidence (e.g., because of the death of the accused), as well as allegations found to be unsubstantiated or false in the preliminary investigation where the case was dismissed by the DDF ³ .

These research studies differed in several important methodological aspects, which to some extent limits the possibility of performing a joint analysis of the results. The most important of these differences is the so-called “unit of observation” - in the Query I, the “case” is meant as the perpetrator, and includes a summary description of the alleged crimes of sexual abuse of minors, with rather limited information. In the Query II and the Query III, the “case” is a single report in which a particular cleric is alleged to have committed sexual abuse of a particular minor. If the alleged offender has also been accused of abusing other minors in separate notifications, each such report has a separate corresponding record in the database. In light of the above, the number of records in the database collected as part of query I corresponds to the number of alleged perpetrators, while in the databases collected as part of Queries II and III, the number of records corresponds to the number of notifications of the harm of sexual abuse. All queries include allegations concerning victims under 15 years of age and from 15 to 18 years of age.

The research includes an analysis of various variables that provide a detailed understanding of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. First, the profile of the victims is examined, focusing on who is abused, with particular emphasis on gender and age. These variables clarify the demographics most vulnerable to abuse and the stages of life during which individuals are at greatest risk. Additionally, the status of victims in relation to the Church is considered, identifying whether those abused had closer ties to the Church, such as serving as altar boys or lectors, taking part in pastoral ministry or community, or remained in a different role in relation to the Church, such as attending religious education classes in schools. The profiles of the accused clergy are also studied, including an investigation into who the abusers are and the age at which the abuse of minors typically begins. The number of victims per perpetrator is assessed to determine whether repeated abuse by certain clergy members is a significant pattern. In terms of the crimes committed, the forms of abuse are classified, determining how the acts are qualified in legal and ethical terms. The circumstances of abuse are also analyzed, including where, when, and in which situation the incidents occurred, in order to identify risk factors for this type of crime. An important aspect of the study involves identifying who reports the abuse. The sources of information are examined to determine whether reports come from the victims themselves, their families and other close ones, or other people associated with the Church. The number of recorded notifications is quantified to provide insight into the scope of the reporting. Finally, the research includes an analysis of the dynamics of notifications over time, examining trends in the reporting of sexual abuse to assess whether there have been increases or decreases in reported cases, potentially in response to societal changes, Church reforms, or media attention.

Most General Results

The total number of the abused identified in the notifications taken into account in the three queries, regardless of their credibility, can be estimated at 1193. The total number of minors abused by clerics between 1955 and 2021 mentioned in credible notifications stands at 1018. It increased steadily from one decade to the next, with a sharp increase between the decade of the 1970s and the 1980s.

Among the 1131 minor victims of sexual abuse whose gender can be identified in the queries for the whole period analysed (1990–2021), boys outnumber girls - 637 to 494 (ratio 56%–44%). In total, at least 558 minors under the age of 15 and 470 minors between the ages of 15 and 18 were sexually abused by clergy during the period considered (in some cases age data are not available). The average age of minor victims of clerical sexual abuse increased from 11 to almost 15 years between 1950 and 2021.

Between 1990 and 2021, allegations were reported against a total of 838 clergymen, of which 695 allegations were confirmed or under investigation at the time of the query: 647 clerics incardinated in Polish dioceses (representing 77% of the total number of credible allegations and 83% of the total number of allegations against diocesan clergy) and 191 perpetual professed in Polish religious jurisdictions (representing 23% of the total number of credible allegations and 91% of the total number of allegations against religious). Queries II and III collected information on the categories of clergy and members of consecrated life accused of abuse: the 394 credibly accused perpetrators include 382 (97%) priests, 9 (2.3%) religious brothers and 1 deacon. Almost half of the accused clergy were between 30 and 40 years of age when they began sexually abusing minors. In the credible notifications from the entire period from 1990 to 2021, it is possible to determine the number of persons harmed per perpetrator for 685 alleged perpetrators (no data on the number of victims are available in 10 cases from query I). These data show that 547 clerics (80%) were accused of harming a single minor, while 138 (20%) were accused of harming more than one minor.

Sexual abuse of minors is punishable under Polish criminal law in case of minors under 15 years of age. ⁴ Therefore, part of the cases reported to the Church institutions, if minors under this age are involved, are subject to prosecution by state authorities. In some cases, an offence notification is submitted earlier to these state agencies (the Police or the Public Prosecutor’s Office), in which case it is them who notify the diocesan or religious curia of competent jurisdiction according to the incardination of the alleged perpetrator. In other cases, the report is received firstly by the curia which is obliged to notify the Prosecutor’s Office. Therefore, starting with the query II ⁵ information was collected as to whether the diocese/jurisdiction transmitted the notifications to the competent state agencies, and if so, the date of such transmission was noted.

Of the 522 notifications received between July 2018 and December 2021, 235, or 45%, were transmitted to law enforcement authorities. For the remaining ones, such notification was not required for a number of reasons. Allegations that were not investigated, rejected, or non-credible were the least frequently notified (33% of 67 such notifications), while 46% of the 189 confirmed or substantiated allegations and 47% of the 266 allegations under investigation at the time of the query were forwarded to the prosecution.

Conclusions

This general and brief presentation of precise and diverse data merely signals the broad spectrum of collected information, which opens up wide perspectives not only for in-depth but also for comparative studies. For instance, a comparison of the sex ratio of victims in Poland with similar data from Germany or the USA (Dressing et al., 2021) shows that, although boys also predominate among victims in Poland, this prevalence is lower than in those other countries. To some extent, this may be due to differences in the pace of societal change—changes that began much later and progressed more slowly in Poland than in Western countries.

This short research note primarily highlights the complex nature and nuances of the methodological aspects of the study. The data collected through the queries reveal significant diversity across dioceses and religious jurisdictions in terms of institutional responses to notifications of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. The variation in the situation of alleged offenders may be attributed to two main factors.

First, each specific case of alleged sexual abuse of a minor involves multiple circumstances. The individual evaluation of these—particularly the assessment of the risk of further harm or attempts to conceal the truth—by those responsible within a diocese or jurisdiction leads to individualized decisions regarding the application of protective measures. It appears that different dioceses and religious orders may make different decisions even in similar cases. Second, the data gathered through the queries depend heavily on how these decisions are documented and how they are ‘translated’ by the person completing the questionnaire into the descriptive categories provided. It seems that in both respects—the decision to apply measures to the alleged offender (including how accurately it is documented) and the way it is reported—there is more discretionary practice within the Church than rigid, standardized rules. This helps explain the observed variation in the treatment of alleged offenders.

Further and more detailed studies will reveal the complex nature of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Poland.