VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Saturday accepted the resignation of the bishop of the Polish diocese of Kalisz who has been accused of shielding priests known to have sexually abused children.
A Vatican statement said Bishop Edward Janiak had handed in his resignation and that the pope had appointed Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of the city of Lodz to run the Kalisz diocese until a new bishop is appointed.
Last May, Church leaders in Poland referred Janiak to the Vatican for judgement after a film by brothers Tomasz and Marek Sekielski purported to show that Janiak failed to take action against priests who were known to have abused children.
Janiak has denied wrongdoing.
The Sekielski brothers also made another film that suggested known paedophiles were deliberately shifted between parishes. The film has had more than 23 million views on YouTube.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
