DROHICZYN, Poland (LifeSiteNews) — A diocesan priest was formally reprimanded after publicly urging Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, the controversial archbishop of Krakow, to resign over the cardinal’s ties to pro-LGBT initiatives and his heterodox pastoral positions.
On May 1, 2026, the Diocese of Drohiczyn issued a public statement saying that Father Beniamin Sęktas violated local Church norms governing media activity by clergy and has been forbidden from publishing similar material in the future. The statement also said he was instructed to take steps to repair the “harm and confusion” caused by his publications.
“In connection with the publications by Fr. Benjamin Sęktas and inquiries about the reaction of the Church authorities, the Diocesan Curia in Drohiczyn declares that they are only private opinions of the author, which he did not agree to express,” the diocese’s statement reads.
“Due to the fact that this priest did not comply with the applicable norms of the Code of Canon Law, and in particular the principles contained in the General Decree of the Polish Episcopal Conference on the appearance of clergy, members of institutes of consecrated life, associations of apostolic life and some lay faithful in the media of October 11, 2021, at a meeting with the Bishop of Drohiczyn, he was reprimanded by him and was forbidden to publish similar content in the future. He was also called upon to take appropriate steps to repair the wrongs done and the confusion caused.”
The controversy follows Pope Leo XIV’s decision in November 26, 2025, to transfer Cardinal Ryś, then-archbishop of Łódź, to Krakow after accepting the resignation of Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski.
The appointment drew attention in Poland because Krakow has long been associated with the legacy of Pope John Paul II and is regarded as one of the country’s most symbolically important dioceses.
In a public letter released on December 14, 2025, on the Polish Catholic website Fronda, Father Sęktas wrote: “I appeal to Your Eminence to refrain from hasty acceptance of this office. There is still some time left until the scheduled date of the ingress. Therefore, I dare to make the following appeal in a sense of responsibility for the Church of Christ, whose task it is to discern the signs of the times and respond to them.”
However, Cardinal Ryś accepted and took possession of his new episcopal see on December 20, 2025.
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The Polish priest recalled a serious liturgical abuse by the cardinal before he received the red hat from Pope Francis: “I recall the circumstance preceding the cardinal nomination of the Bishop in 2023. It was the wickedly celebrated Holy Mass presided over by the Bishop during the Youth Arena event on September 13, 2021. It caused such a scandal that the Cardinal felt compelled to publicly apologize to the faithful for the scandal caused during the Holy Mass by performing the consecration without a prior act of penance and the liturgy of the word.”
“This liturgical abuse, which seems to be deliberate and planned, did not become a reason to repent and revise one’s actions. With this act of disregard for divine worship on his conscience, the Bishop assumed the dignity of a cardinal,” the letter reads.
Sęktas also criticized Ryś for participating in the Forum of the Congress of Catholic Women and Men held in Łódź on November 22-23, 2025. He described the gathering as linked to organizations supportive of positions contrary to Catholic moral teaching, including support for homosexual “relationships” and “women’s ordination.” The priest also objected to the presence of LGBT activists at the event and to an ecumenical prayer led by Tomasz Puchalski of the Reformed Catholic Church in Poland, a community that publicly supports same-sex “relationships.”
“As one of the highest dignity in the Church in Poland, this Cardinal still shocks and scandalizes many Catholics. You pose as an authority among the participants of the public debate, but I dare say that this is a mask behind which the cynical face of an activist who wants to win the applause of the opinion-forming elites is hidden,” Sęktas said.
“Very often, Your Eminence refers to the common roots of Christianity and contemporary Judaism. However, I cannot understand how the Old Testament can be reconciled with the search for space for dialogue with those who invoke the name of God to bless the sin of Sodom,” the Polish priest added in his letter.
“My fears about whether a worthy bishop will sit on the chair of St. Stanislaus are shared by a large part of society and believers,” Sęktas wrote. “Today, together with a significant part of my compatriots, I fear the nomination to the Krakow metropolitan see of a public collaborator of rainbow Catholics.”
Sęktas further accused the cardinal of promoting extensive use of extraordinary lay ministers of Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of Łódź. In the letter he argued that expanding the role of lay ministers risked “diminishing reverence for the Eucharist and the sacramental priesthood.”
Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś has become one of the most prominent churchmen in Poland associated with the pastoral approach of the late Pope Francis. He is widely regarded as one of the country’s most progressive bishops and is often described as “Pope Francis’ man” in Poland. His elevation to the cardinalate was interpreted as encouragement for efforts to reshape the traditionally conservative Polish Church in a “more synodal direction.”
Shortly after his appointment to Krakow, Cardinal Ryś delivered remarks emphasizing his continuity with the pontificate of Francis. Speaking in November 2025, he said: “I do not want another Church. I simply do not want one. I cannot imagine another Church than the one Francis taught us.”
The Polish cardinal also stated that it was Pope Francis who “taught me the understanding of the Church. From him, I learned everything I believe in regarding the Church.”