July 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Polish priest is contesting his removal from the position of pastor following a blog post in which he reportedly denounced the Polish bishops’ condemnation of the sins of abortion, euthanasia, contraception, and in vitro fertilization, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Fr. Wojciech Lemanski, 53, has been removed from his leadership position of the parish of Jasienica by Henryk Hoser, Archbishop of Varsovie-Praga, for “lack of respect and disobedience,” and for causing “serious damage and confusion at the heart of the community of the Church.”
Lemanski initially refused to vacate his parish, but has now decided to leave in accordance with canon law while disputing his removal with the Vatican.
The temporary administrator sent to oversee the parish by the archdiocese was refused entry by parishioners supportive of Lemanski.
The removal follows a series of conflicts between Lemanski and the archbishop, which the priest claims were provoked by his work to commemorate the killing of Jews in Poland during World War II, a labor that was recognized by the Polish government in 2008. Archbishop Hoser denies the claim.
Ex-Jesuit-priest and university professor Stanislaw Obirek supports Lemanski and is expressing hope that Pope Francis will support the priest in his struggle against Archbishop Hoser.
“The priest Lemanski opposed the language used by the Polish church which is hurtful for people who think differently, particularly on the subject of in vitro fertilization, abortion, or homosexuality, a language of hate,” Obirek said, according to AFP.
Obirek believes that the conflict represents “a new stage in the confrontation between an open Chuch,” represented by Pope Francis, “and a closed Church,” represented by the Polish bishops.
“The hope is in the Vatican and the eventual reaction of Pope Francis,” said Obirek.
Although Obirek’s perspective on Pope Francis is echoed by a number of South American dissidents who reject Catholic social teaching on sexual morality while promoting a socialist interpretation of Catholic social justice, the pope’s record indicates that Obirek is likely to be disappointed.
While archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis, then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, used strong language in the struggle against the legalization of the killing of the unborn and the creation of homosexual “marriage.”
Bergoglio called homosexual “marriage” a “machination of the Father of Lies,” while the Argentinean congress was considering it in 2010, and condemned abortion for children conceived by rape as a “death sentence” in 2007.