Edward Janiak (14 August 1952 – 23 September 2021) was a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church, who served as the bishop of the Diocese of Kalisz from 2012 to 2020. He was previously an auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Wrocław In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and titular bishop of Scillium from 1996 to 2012. In 2020, after allegations and an investigation of sexual abuse cover-up by Janiak,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

permanently removed Janiak from ministry and banned him from the diocese of Kalisz. Janiak died less than a year later in 2021 due to lung cancer.

Biography

Early life

Janiak was born in the town of Malczyce to a religious family. He had one younger brother who also became a priest. He graduated from the Technical School of Wood Industry in Sobieszów, obtaining a maturity certificate in 1971. Before entering the seminary, he studied for two years at the Faculty of Wood Technology of the University of Life Sciences in Poznań. From 1973 to 1979 he studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Wrocław, and obtained a master's degree in theology. During the same time, he also studied and lived at the Metropolitan Major Seminary in Wrocław. He was ordained a priest on 19 May 1979 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wroclaw by local auxiliary bishop . After his ordination he continued his studies at the , where in 1983 he obtained a licentiate in moral theology. From 1983 to 1986 he continued his studies in moral theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, from which he graduated with a doctorate degree.

Sexual abuse crisis

In 2019 the documentary film by Polish director Tomasz Sekielski titled "

Tell No One ''Tell No One'' (french: Ne le dis à personne) is a 2006 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. Written by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre and starring François Cluzet, th ...

" and its 2020 successor "Hide and Seek" brought mainstream attention to how many Polish bishops were ignoring and neglecting reports of sexual abuse by priest in their diocese. The latter documentary was especially critical of Janiak's handling of abuse allegations in the Kalisz diocese, showing him berating the parents of an abuse victim who had filed charges. It was later revealed that in May 2020 the priest of the diocese of Kalisz were asked to sign a letter pledging their obedience to Janiak, but most refused and instead asked the Vatican to investigate him. In June 2020

permanently removed Janiak from episcopal ministry and installed Grzegorz Ryś as a caretaker of the Kalisz diocese.

Death

On 23 September 2020, Janiak died in a hospital in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

after battling lung cancer for several years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janiak, Edward 1952 births 2021 deaths People from Środa Śląska County Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni Roman Catholic titular bishops 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland Ecclesiastical passivity to Catholic sexual abuse cases Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Poland