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 An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

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 associated ...

and titular bishop of

Scillium Scillium is an ancient city in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, Scillium must not be confounded with Silli, or Sililli, in Numidia, the situation of which is unknown nor, as Albert Battandier does, identified with Kasrin, which is Cil ...

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

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

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 Malczyce is a village in Środa Śląska County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, situated on the south-west bank of the river Oder (Odra). It is the seat of Gmina Malczyce. It lies approximately north-west of Środa Śl� ...

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 The University of Life Sciences in Poznań (, literally "University of Nature in Poznań") is a higher-education institution in Poznań, Poland. It officially gained university status on 11 April 2008. Its previous name was ''Akademia Rolnicza i ...

. 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'' () 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, the film won four categories at ...

" 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 Grzegorz Wojciech Ryś (born 9 February 1964) is a Polish Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Łódź since 2017. He was previously an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków and titular bishop of Arcavica from 2011 to 201 ...

as a caretaker of the Kalisz diocese.

Death

On 23 September 2021, Janiak died in a hospital in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

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 Polish Roman Catholic titular bishops 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland Deaths from lung cancer in Poland