Poland’s Catholic bishops established an independent commission on March 11, 2025, to investigate clergy sexual abuse of minors.
Commission Established
The Polish Bishops’ Conference established a commission of independent experts on March 11, 2025, to investigate the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in Poland. The commission was granted legal personality, according to Conference spokesman Fr. Leszek Gęsiak.
In March 2023, bishops had decided to begin work on forming such a commission. Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Poland was appointed to head the team tasked with developing the commission’s operational principles. During the June 2025 Plenary Assembly, bishops decided to end Archbishop Polak’s team’s work on this project and instead appointed a new team led by Bishop Sławomir Oder.
Bishops Have Voluntary Participation
The team developed documents based on which the commission was to be established. Bishop Oder explained that the new body’s task would be to finalize technical and legal matters regarding the commission’s work. Bishops approved the working version of the documents during their October 2025 Plenary Assembly, then sent them for consultation with the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Orders – Men’s and Women’s.
Canon law does not allow any resolution of the Polish Bishops’ Conference to be imposed on bishops. They have the option of voluntarily joining this initiative by signing an agreement with the commission. Based on the opinions received from the consultation, the bishops can establish the new Commission and sign agreements between it and the bishops, and between the commission and individual religious jurisdictions.
Doubts About Commission’s Work
In December 2025, an open letter was written to the Polish Bishops’ Conference by Fr. Dr. Grzegorz Strzelczyk and a group of anonymous experts who argued that Bishop Oder’s project aims to weaken the commission and gives bishops the opportunity to interfere in its work.
According to Fr. Piotr Studnicki, who directed the work of the KEP Delegate’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth from 2019-2024 and was a member of Archbishop Wojciech Polak’s team, the obstacle will be the commission’s lack of authority to summon church superiors to provide information.
“As a result, the commission will constantly face mental resistance and fail to fulfill its task, causing great disappointment, especially to the victims harmed. In such a case, its establishment makes no sense,” evaluated Fr. Studnicki.
Some Dioceses Taking Independent Action
In the meantime, several dioceses have decided to establish similar bodies within their own jurisdictions. The Archdiocese of Łódz did so on November 14, 2024. If the national commission is not established in March, similar independent action has also been announced by the Archdioceses of Kraków, Wrocław, and Częstochowa.