Krakow, Poland, May 28, 2021 / 08:00 am
The Vatican has imposed penalties on retired Polish Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy after an investigation into his handling of clerical abuse cases.
The Archdiocese of Kraków announced May 28 that the Vatican had taken the step following an investigation conducted under the norms of Pope Francis’ motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi.
The 83-year-old served as bishop of Bielsko-Żywiec from 1992 to 2013, when he retired after his 75th birthday. The diocese in southern Poland is in the ecclesiastical province of Kraków.
Kraków archdiocese disclosed on Oct. 9, 2020, that the pope had authorized Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Kraków to conduct an inquiry into negligence claims against Rakoczy, concerning abuse cases involving two priests in Bielsko-Żywiec diocese.