Court upholds complaint against offensive statements about the Pope
The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) daily Trybuna is to apologize to priest
Zdzislaw Peszkowski for insulting Pope John Paul II - ruled the Warsaw
district court. The daily is to pay zl. 20,000 to the Church's charity
organization "Caritas" and the litigation costs. In 1997 Trybuna called the
Pope "an ordinary vicar" and his statement - "muddy and blurry". The 84-year
old priest Peszkowski, responsible for taking care of the so-called Katyn
families, felt offended - as a Pole and as a Catholic. He filed a case to
court for protection of his personal assets, demanding apologies in the
media and payment of zl. 100,000 to a charitable cause. Trybuna has twice
apologised for the article and its editor-in-chief later said that the
offending text was published through error rather than malice. The paper's
lawyer said they would appeal against the decision. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 6;
Zycie p. 7) M.T.
