Papal Theologian’s Family and Poland’s Far Right

Interesting background to the new Theologian of the Papal Household, reported in the Tablet:

FR WOJCIECH GIERTYCH OP, the London-born son of a prominent Polish politician, has been named the new Theologian of the Papal Household, a post that makes him, in layman’s terms, the theological sub-editor of the Pope’s writings and speeches.

The newly named papal theologian is a member of a well-known, political family in Poland that spans three generations. He is the son of the late Jedrzej Giertych (1903-1992), a staunch Polish nationalist who fled his native country after the Second World War (which he spent in German prison camps) and settled in London. A prolific author of many books, some of his political writings have been criticised as anti-Semitic.

That’s putting it mildly – as this article shows, Jedrzej was obsessed with Jewish conspiracies in Poland, and quite liked Hitler before the invasion. But back to the Tablet:

Fr Giertych’s older brother Maciej, 69, a papal-appointed observer at the 1987 Synod of Bishops on the laity, is a Euro-parliamentarian for the conservative League of Polish Families party. Mr Giertych’s 34-year-old son Roman, a member of the Polish Parliament, is chairman of the right-wing party, which describes itself as being inspired by Catholic teaching. The party militantly opposes abortion, homosexual rights and feminism. Its critics have called it ultra-nationalist and fiercely anti-European Union.

Maciej and Roman have featured on this blog before. Roman accuses homosexuals of being “pederasts”, and seeks to make it illegal even to advocate same-sex marriage; LPF activists were involved with a physical attack on a gay rights march in Krakow last year.

Nobody should be penalised just because they have embarrassing relatives, but it would be good to know just how ideologically close Wojciech is to the rest of his family – especially given that he’s now working for a man who also apparently believes that gays are paedophiles.

2 Responses

  1. […] Maciej’s younger brother Fr Wojciech Giertych is keeping a low profile – as I noted a year ago, he’s the current “Theologian of the Papal Household”, which means he sub-edits […]

  2. […] booklet will doubtless be of particular embarrassment to his brother Wojciech, who writes theological speeches for the […]

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