Pope John Paul II
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Cardinal: Deal with priest accused of anti-Semitism
Pope John Paul II's former personal secretary calls on fellow Polish church leaders to rein in Roman Catholic priest, radio station director accused of anti-Semitism
Pope John Paul II's former personal secretary has called on his fellow Polish church leaders to rein in a Roman Catholic priest and radio station director accused of anti-Semitism, according to a speech published Tuesday.
The Rev. Tadeusz Rydzyk and Radio Maryja, his politically influential station, have long faced accusations of anti-Semitism. Israel and international Jewish groups have urged Polish political and church leaders to act against the station.
However, Poland's prime minister indicated support for the priest, saying the ultra-Catholic radio station he runs has "strengthened the Polish church" and arguing that he should remain at its helm.
Protest
Group writes Benedict XVI saying his recent meeting with Polish cleric have lent the latter "the priceless credibility of your office and integrity in the eyes of the world”
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow and longtime personal secretary to the late John Paul, said the church must deal with Rydzyk, and called for the radio station to change its management.
"We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening," Dziwisz said in a speech delivered Aug. 25 to Polish bishops but only published Tuesday by the liberal Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Dziwisz's spokesman confirmed the accuracy of the text.
"We are at the threshold of a dangerous crisis — somebody else is guiding the direction of the ministry in Poland," Dziwisz said, referring to Radio Maryja and Rydzyk. He said there is a "threat that the church in Poland is being identified solely with the position of Radio Maryja."
Dziwisz's remarks are the strongest from a church leader since a new round of criticism of Rydzyk began, following remarks he reportedly made earlier this year referring to Jews as greedy and accusing Polish President Lech Kaczynski of subservience to Jewish lobbyists.
"More and more, Radio Maryja is not contributing to unity in the church but is becoming an element of ... political and social jockeying," Dziwisz said.
However, the president's twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, later Tuesday praised the radio station as a force that has helped the church.
"It strengthened the Polish church (and) active Polish Catholicism and returned real civic rights to a small group of Poles," said Kaczynski, whose conservative Law and Justice party won 2005 elections after being endorsed by station. The party faces likely early elections this fall.
Polish PM: Radio station is the one man
Many of the station's listeners are older, rural and conservative Catholics who feel they lost out in the transition from communism, which fell in 1989, to democracy and capitalism. Radio Maryja broadcasts a mix of music, prayers, news programing and call-in talk sessions.The prime minister did not address the latest allegations against Rydzyk, but expressed support for the priest remaining as the broadcaster's director.
"This radio station is the one man," he said. "Take away that man and there's no radio station. That's entirely obvious."
Rydzyk, in his alleged remarks, criticized President Kaczynski for bowing to pressure to compensate people — some of them Jews — for property nationalized by the postwar communist government, and for donating land for a future Jewish museum when Kaczynski was Warsaw's mayor.
"You know that it's about Poland giving $65 billion dollars" to the Jews, Rydzyk purportedly said in a recording that surfaced this summer. "They will come to you and say: give me your coat. Take off your pants. Give me your shoes."
Rydzyk also referred to the leading Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, whose founder Adam Michnik has Jewish roots, as a "Talmudic" publication.
Rydzyk has not denied making the comments — although he has suggested that a recording of them may have been doctored. However, he has rejected accusations of anti-Semitism, saying he "didn't intend to offend anyone."
