Polish prosecutors drop investigation into radio priest's conduct

Published: 2007-08-23

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Polish prosecutors have dropped a criminal investigation into the conduct of a prominent Catholic priest who was covertly recorded using anti-Semitic language and insulting his country's president. "There are no legal indications a crime was committed," Ewa Janczur, deputy head of the Torun-based regional prosecutor's office, told journalists Aug. 21 about Redemptorist Father Tadeusz Rydzyk. "The justification for this decision will be made available after the ruling is validated -- in other words, seven days after it has been referred to the injured parties." Prosecutors launched proceedings against Father Rydzyk, the director of Radio Maryja, after the Wprost weekly published a transcript July 9 of alleged remarks by the priest to students at Torun's School of Social and Media Culture. The priest described Polish President Lech Kaczynski as "a crook subservient to the Jewish lobby" and accused Jews of attempting to extort billions of dollars by demanding compensation for wartime Nazi atrocities. The priest's comments were protested by Israel and by Jewish organizations, including the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, which demanded his dismissal in a July 10 letter to the Polish bishops' conference.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .