After scandals and a bishop's resignation, the Polish diocese of
Sosnowiec has a new leader: Pope Francis has appointed the former
auxiliary bishop in Tarnow, Artur Wazny (57), as the new bishop of
Sosnowiec, as announced by the Vatican Press Office on Tuesday.
Wazny succeeds Grzegorz Kaszak (59), who resigned from his office in October following several scandals in his diocese.
The Vatican did not give a reason for the move at the time.
Kaszak had headed the southern Polish diocese since 2009.
According to media reports, in 2010 several trainee priests accused the rector of the local seminary of having sexually abused them. The seminary was later closed.
Another incident followed in September 2023: at an alleged sex party organised by a homosexual priest, a call boy is said to have fainted after taking sexual enhancers.
According to the media, the priest allegedly refused to allow the paramedics to enter his home, whereupon they called the police.
Critics spoke of a moral decline in the diocese, which they also blamed on the bishop.