The pope has accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked by reports of a gay orgy involving a male sex worker in a priest’s apartment, as well as previous violent incidents involving his clergy.
The Vatican did not give a reason why Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in south-western Poland. At 59, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.
But his diocese has been in the spotlight after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation for having allegedly organised an orgy at his apartment in Dąbrowa Górnicza involving a male sex worker. Polish media reported that one of the participants of the sex party collapsed after overdosing on erectile dysfunction pills.
A prosecutor said the priest was suspected of “failing to provide assistance to a person whose life is at risk” for having allegedly tried to bar paramedics from entering the apartment.
It was not the first incident involving clergy from the diocese to make headlines.
In 2010, the then acting rector of the Sosnowiec seminary allegedly got into a scuffle at a gay club, but was allowed to remain in his job for more than a year even after the case was publicised by Polish media. The Holy See finally intervened and dissolved the seminary altogether, according to the PAP news agency.
In March 2023, the corpse of a 26-year-old deacon was found with injuries suggesting homicide. Local prosecutors said he had been killed by a 40-year-old priest who then killed himself.
In a statement on Tuesday, Kaszak said he had asked the pope to let him resign in a letter dated 29 September. He thanked the priests and nuns of his diocese and asked “everyone to forgive my human limitations”.
Kaszak was appointed bishop in 2009 by then pope, Benedict XVI, after having served briefly as number two in the Vatican’s family office.
The diocese, which identified the priest involved in the purported orgy as Tomasz Z, has largely corroborated the media reports, saying an outside investigative commission had concluded he committed “a very serious violation of moral norms”, as well as of his obligations as a clergyman.
Kaszak dismissed the priest from all functions on 21 September and initiated an in-house canonical trial, the outcome of which could result in defrocking, or laicisation, according to a statement on the diocesan website.
The priest has not been charged by Polish prosecutors. Polish media quoted a statement he issued soon after the scandal erupted, denying he had prevented paramedics from accessing his apartment and questioning the definition of “orgy”.
“I perceive this as an obvious attack on the church, including the clergy and the faithful, in order to humiliate its position, tasks and mission,” the priest was quoted as saying in a statement he emailed to the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
