A Catholic priest in Poland was seriously wounded by an assailant in a violent stabbing attack on the steps of a church in the city of Wroclaw, reported DW. His condition is reportedly serious, but stable, as he was rushed by medics to a local hospital on Monday. The priest has undergone surgery for chest wounds and is now out of immediate danger, Wroclaw University Hospital has said.
The assailant has been arrested, but his motive remains unclear.
According to police spokesman Krzysztof Zaporowski the attacker approached the priest in stealth outside the Holiest Mary church in the city's ancient Ostrow Tumski district.
As police are puzzling over the motive that drove the assailant to commit the heinous crime, Poland's large Catholic community is still in shock after the May release of a revealing documentary titled Tell No One, which revealed the scope of widespread sexual abuse by the clergy.
The documentary had generated backlash in the community and the Church, forcing an emergency meeting of Polish bishops.
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“Tell No One,” was financed through a crowdfunding campaign and released on YouTube, offering shocking revelations about clergy who molested children. In March, Polish church authorities said they had recorded cases of 382 clergymen who had molested 625 victims under the age of 18 since 1990.
The documentary presented new evidence that priests who were known to be paedophiles were transferred between parishes instead of thrown out of the church or reported to the police.
The primate of Poland Archbishop Wojciech Polak thanked the brothers who made the film, Tomasz and Marek Sekielski, for their “courage,” saying:
“I apologise for every wound inflicted by the people of the church.”