Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked by reports of a sex party involving a male prostitute in a priest’s flat.
While the Vatican didn’t give a reason for why Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak, 59, was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland, his diocese was featured in headlines across the world after one of his priests, Father Tomasz Zmarzły, was placed under investigation for an alleged gay orgy gone wrong.
It was reported that Father Tomasz tried to stop paramedics from entering his flat in Dabrowa Gornicza after a man overdosed on erectile dysfunction pills at the sex party, which was attended by a male prostitute.
Waldemar Lubniewski, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Sosnowiec, said the investigation focused on a ‘failure to provide assistance to a person in a situation that poses an immediate threat of loss of life or serious damage to health.’
The scandal garnered substantial attention in Poland, with the event further harming the image of the church in the once staunchly Roman Catholic homeland of St. John Paul II.
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Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak, 59, (pictured) sent his letter of resignation to Pope Francis in September
Father Tomasz Zmarzły (pictured) was placed under investigation for an alleged gay orgy gone wrong
Pope Francis accepted Bishop Kaszak’s resignation following a string of scandals at his diocese
For several years now, Polish society has been undergoing a fast process of secularisation, with many people rejecting the church and some even taking steps to leave it formally.
The alleged orgy wasn’t the first incident involving clergy in 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 over 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 committed suicide.
Prosecutors said the two had been in a conflict-ridden relationship for some time and that the priest had sent the deacon threatening messages.
Father Tomasz allegedly tried to stop paramedics entering his flat when a man attending his sex party overdosed on erectile dysfunction pills
The sex party at Father Tomasz’s flat was allegedly attended by a male prostitute
In a statement published on Tuesday, Kaszak said he had asked the pope to let him resign in a letter sent to him on September 29.
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 a top official in the Vatican’s family office.
The diocese has largely corroborated the media reports of Father Tomasz’s alleged orgy, saying an outside investigative commission concluded he committed ‘a very serious violation of moral norms,’ as well as of his obligations as a priest.
It cited an ‘incident’ at the priest’s apartment involving him and at least two other lay people.
Kaszak dismissed the priest from all functions in September and initiated an in-house canonical trial, the outcome of which could result in defrocking, according to a statement on the diocesan website.
The priest has not yet 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 in a statement he emailed to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.
Polish tabloid Fakt published what it said was the audio recording of the call one of the participants made to police.
In it, the person said he had been kicked out of the apartment and begged for paramedics to come, weeping at one point and saying his friend was foaming at the mouth after having ingested drugs.
The Polish Catholic Church has been rocked for several years by allegations of sexual abuse of minors involving the clergy, scandals that have led to the forced resignations of several bishops and tarnished the church´s reputation.
The Vatican embassy in Poland said a temporary administrator, Archbishop Adrian Galbas of Katowice, would run the diocese of Sosnowiec until a new bishop is named.