Polish justice minister sets up team to probe child abuse by priests

The film Tylko nie mów nikomu (Tell No One), by the brothers Tomasz Sekielski and Marek Sekielski, explores the problem of paedophilia in the Polish Catholic Church by focusing on specific cases of people who said they were molested by priests in childhood.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Monday that paedophilia must be fought "wherever an adult can harm a child in a hideous way,” public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.

He tweeted: "Zero tolerance! Be vigilant! Talk to your child!” In this context, he mentioned schools, summer camps, scouting, Catholic retreats called 'oasis' and other organisations.

Senior Polish churchmen offered apologies after the film was released over the weekend.

The film garnered more than 4.5 million views within the first two days after it hit YouTube on Saturday, according to media reports.

Last year, The Clergy (Polish title Kler), a feature film by director Wojciech Smarzowski about Roman Catholic priests, was slammed by conservatives as smearing the Church with negative stereotypes including overstated accusations of paedophilia.

The leader of Poland’s ruling conservatives, Jarosław Kaczyński, on Sunday pledged to bring in tougher penalties for paedophiles.

(aba/gs)

Source: IAR/PAP