Pope Francis accepts resignation of senior bishop following alleged gay orgy scandal
Topics: Pope Francis
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Pope Francis
The Pope has accepted the resignation of a senior Polish bishop who is in charge of a diocese that has attracted a lot of attention.
Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak handed over his notice to vacate his role to Pope Francis, despite being more than a decade younger than the usual retirement age of someone in his position.
The Catholic Church hasn't revealed the reason why Bishop Kaszak resigned.
However, the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland has been embroiled in scandal recently.
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Polish media reported on a priest within the diocese who was put under criminal investigation for an incident that allegedly involved a male sex worker at his apartment.
The Los Angeles Times says a person collapsed after overdosing on erectile dysfunction pills.
Local outlets based in the country called it a 'sex party' and a 'gay orgy'.
These reports also alleged the priest tried to stop paramedics from getting into the apartment.
Prosecutors were looking into whether there was 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 priest hit back at the allegations he prevented first responders coming in and asked the Gazeta Wyborcza daily for clarification on the word '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," he was quoted as saying.
He was dismissed from all functions within the church in September and he was defrocked following an in-house canonical trial.
An investigation concluded the priest 'committed “a very serious violation of moral norms”, as well as of his obligations as a clergyman', according to The Guardian.
That's not the only scandal that has rocked the diocese of Sosnowiec.
In 2010, the then-acting rector of the Sosnowiec seminary was accused of getting into a fight at a gay club.
The Holy See eventually dissolved the seminary more than a year after the alleged incident.
Grzegorz Kaszak was promoted to bishop back in 2009 by then-Pope Benedict XVI.
In his resignation, he thanked the people at his diocese and asked 'everyone to forgive my human limitations'.