Catholic Church
Polish Catholic Church To Get Property Taken By Poland's Communists
Warsaw, Poland 19 January 2010 - By the end of 2010, the Polish Government's Property Commisson plans to return to the Roman Catholic Church everything the Church lost during the time of the People’s Republic of Poland.
Since 1991 the Property Commission has settled some 3000 issues and left until the end about 240 of the most difficult tasks, including a controversial 100 million PLN claim to land in the Cracow area
Though the Commission promised last June that it would withdraw from notorious closed sessions, that now seems unlikely.
In nearly 20 years the Commission, which is affiliated with the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, has made many controversial decisions and been very favorable towards the Church. Many decisions were made during closed sessions.
One of them was over land in Warsaw’s Białołęka area, where the local Council lost 47 ha to Elizabethan nuns from Poznan. They said the land was valued at 30.7 million PLN, but the Council said it was more in the area of 240 million PLN.
What’s more is that the Commission, not being an official court, offers no means of appeal.
Recently, the Dominican monastery put forward a motion before the Commission, made up of 6 Episcopal and 6 Government representatives, about the property near Cracow.
The land formerly belonged to a convent in Cracow but the claimant is in Warsaw, the President of Cracow’s representative in legal matters Prof. Andrzej Oklejak said.
“We also think the [Dominican] order has overvalued the property,” Prof. Oklejak said. “Since a representative of the Finance Minister was invited to the relevant hearing, it was expected that the matter would be dealt with and that the national treasury would pay the compensation. But no decision was made,” he said.
“The Commission asked for the final statements and announced it would refer the case to a closed session. We probably won’t be informed when that will be, only of the decision made,” lawyer of the Cracow Municipality Piotr Symołon said.
But the Commission’s vice chairman Krzysztof Wąsowski (an Episcopate representative) said “this isn’t closed, just without participants”.
“Let’s not predict that the Commission will then make a decision. I think it just wants to consider what it should do with such a controversial case,” Mr Wąsowski said. Prof. Oklejak said the best case scenario now is that the Commission, in a bid to be over and done with by the end of the year, will refer the cases to the courts. “This would give stakeholders a chance to appeal decisions,” he said.
“But if the Commission gives out decisions quickly, just so it can be done with a hot topic, that’s bad news.”
By Victoria Ziarkowski
Freelance Writer
Do you know anyone who might be interested in this information? Use the links below to publish on Twitter and Facebook.
Share This On Twitter Share This On Facebook
We also have an Amazon Affiliate Link should you feel like ordering yourself a present from Amazon and crediting us with a tiny commission on the transaction (you pay the same, we get a cut from Amazon). It helps us support this service.
