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Posted on 3/6/2010, 2:48:57 PM by NYer
KATOWICE, Poland, March 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Katowice Appeal Court has today upheld the verdict of the Katowice District Court which ruled in September '09 that the Polish Catholic newspaper Gosc Niedzielny (Sunday Visitor) and its editor-in-chief Fr. Marek Gancarczyk were guilty of making offensive comments by saying abortion is the killing of an unborn child.
A further appeal is expected to go to Poland's Supreme Court.
Fr. Gancarczyk had appealed the earlier decision in the case brought against him by Alicja Tysiac, a woman who had previously won a "wrongful birth" suit against the Polish government at the European Court for Human Rights because she was refused an abortion. Poland permits abortion only in cases of rape, serious handicap in the baby, or serious health risk to the mother.
Ms. Tysiac, who has an eye condition, had been denied an abortion because her doctors decided that the pregnancy would not seriously damage her health.
Following the European Court's ruling, Fr. Gancarczyk published an editorial condemning the court's decision, saying, "In consequence, Ms. Tysiac will receive 25,000 euro damages, plus the costs of proceedings, for not being able to kill her child. In other words, we are living in a world where a mother is granted an award for the fact that she very much wanted to kill her child, but was forbidden to do so."
Katowice District Court ordered Fr. Gancarczyk to pay $11,000 and publish a court-dictated apology, which Fr. Gancarczyk has refused to do.
Pointing out that the District Court judge said she deemed offensive Fr. Gancarczyk’s statement that in seeking to get an abortion, the woman sought to 'kill' her child, the Appeal Court judge said in her decision that she believed the Catholic press should refrain from using decisive and forceful language.
"Christianity is a religion of love and this is what the language used by Catholic press should be like" the presiding judge stated.
An observer at the hearing told LifeSiteNews his opinion of the proceedings: "The court was biased from the start. When the closing statements were heard in court, the judge could not sit still and listen to both sides, as is usually the case and a rule of good manners. The judge kept interrupting the speech of the defense, making faces and comments, indicating, that the case was already lost for Gosc Niedzielny."
Archbishop Damian Zimon of Katowice Archdiocese, upon hearing the verdict, commented in an email to LSN, "The atmosphere around the trial launched against Gosc Niedzielny indicates the activity of abortion circles, which want to change the law in Poland at all cost.
“No state law can undermine God's commandment and the order of Jesus Christ,” he said. “Abortion is the first cause of death in Europe, according to the newest report on Abortion in Europe and Spain presented in Brussels by a Spanish Institute of Family Policy. Let me remind the words of blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta: ‘the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion (...) if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?’
“Christ reminds us that ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Fr. Jozef Kloch, spokesman for Polish Bishops' Conference, added his voice to that of Archbishop Zimon, saying, "Christianity is a religion of love, which loves human beings from the first moments of life. It is also a religion which tells the truth, no matter how painful it is."
Gosc Niedzielny issued a statement following the verdict, saying, “We consider this ruling unjust and limiting freedom of speech.”
“The Appeal Court ruling,” said the magazine, “confirms a dangerous precedent, where it is the courts who freely interpret the ‘context’ and ‘general impression’ of articles and thus decide on the shape of opinion journalism in the delicate area of ethical and moral judgments. This constitutes a serious restriction not only of the freedom of speech, but also of the right of Catholics to participate in the public debate.”
The Catholic Association of Journalists in Poland issued a statement condemning the Appeal Court ruling and urging fellow Christian journalists not to be cowed into silence about abortion.
"We consider the verdict an attempt to gag Catholic media, also directed against freedom of speech in a wider sense," the group's statement said in part.
"We call on all journalists, who hold Christian values, not to be afraid to write the truth about abortion, about abortionists and about the supporters of the Holocaust of the 21st century. Because neither the appeal court in Katowice, nor the Strasbourg Tribunal, nor all the courts in the world have the right to forbid us from calling abortion a crime," the statement concluded.
Contact Information:
Justice Stanislaw Dabrowski, Head of the National Council of the Judiciary
ul. Rakowiecka 30
02-528 Warszawa, Poland
Phone: (22) 3-792-792
Fax: (22) 3-792-794
Email: biuro@krs.gov.pl
Polish pro-life leaders are requesting that letters also be copied to:
Archbishop Damian Zimon (Metropolitan of Katowice): kancelaria@kuria.katowice.pl
Archbishop Józef Michalik (Head of the Polish Episcopate): skep1@episkopat.pl
The Katowice court which issued the verdict: informacja@katowice.so.gov.pl
Gosc Niedzielny newspaper: redakcja@goscniedzielny.pl
Janusz Kochanowski (Civil Rights Commissioner): rzecznik@rpo.gov.pl
See previous LSN coverage:
Polish Magazine Fined for Calling Abortion “Killing” becomes #1 Weekly
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10020206.html
Former John-Paul II Secretary Condemns Ruling against Polish Priest over Abortion Statements
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09092509.html
Polish Priest Fined for Comparing Abortion to Holocaust, Saying Abortion is "Killing"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09092508.html
Of possible interest.
To have to defend truth is where we seem to be at today. Of course these same people who are offended that abortion means death to the unborn would've put Christ to death.
Ain’t state controlled speech just grand?
“Christianity is a religion of love and this is what the language used by Catholic press should be like” the presiding judge stated.”
Apparently they have no Church State seperation in Poland.
Did the Cardinals take a vote for a new Pope while I was asleep.
So the word “kill” upsets someone but the word “abortion” does not. I guess the word “kill” hits a little to close to home for some people.
Freedom of speech anyone? Thank God for the First Amendment in this country, that is until the courts whittle it away to nothing.
We ALL put Christ to death. It was predetermined that He would die to save us from our sins. Christ and His Father knew that He was going to die before He was even born. This was God’s plan all along.
People here were cheering Poland when they wanted to ban Che Guevera shirts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2394162/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2435830/posts
That’s why I am opposed with govts trying to people they cannot wear a burka. One day govt will ban something that **you** will like.
Nobody here, except a few, were complaining when they wanted to ban Che shirts.
This story brings to mind the one of the Serbian abortionist who abandoned his practice after a series of dreams in which he met St. Thomas Aquinas.
Serbian Abortionist Who Aborted 48,000 Babies Becomes Pro-Life Activist
They remind me of a cat covering its crap in a sandbox.
They can force it to be called whatever they want, but the truth is a human is KILLED.
If we keep on the same track here in the USA, the same will take place here eventually.
Abortion is premeditated homicide and they know it.
Each abortion is in actuality the torture murder of an innocent, helpless, defenseless person.
So we can kill an unborn child but we cannot offend someone who wishes to do the killing! Which is the greater crime?
As has oft been quoted, “The Law is an Ass!”
The objective truth is that it IS a killing, despite any legal attempt to say otherwise. The unborn child is an entity, and has a scientific name; the fetus, and if this was just a mass of tissue of the mother, than the law would be right, it is not killed. However, since the fetus continues to grow, and at some point, which is a moving target due to advances in medical science, can survive outside the womb, without the mother’s body. Is it not living then? If modern science invents and perfects a “gestation box”, then what would a fetus be, but alive? Do we say a person on a heart-lung machine is dead, as they cannot live without it?
As I said, the Law (and this judge) is an ass.
To miss-paraphrase Galileo, “And yet, it LIVES.”
You hit the nail on the head. I hope this holy priest holds his ground and would be willing to go to jail over this. I am incredulous, just unbelievable.
These people can’t stand to have their conscience pricked, which is what is happening. They want to keep deluding themselves. On a positive note, this holy priest can be assured that his words did prick someones conscience, that’s obvious.
I know what you mean... but there are some of us that understand, more than others, what truths need to be followed.
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