In this article, two officials of the Polish Bishops’ Conference—a priest and a laywoman—discuss the slow reaction of the nation’s bishops to the sexual abuse of minors, until prodded by the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

In recent years, the Vatican has investigated 12 bishops under the terms of Vos estis lux mundi [You Are the Light of the World], Pope Francis’s motu proprio addressing sexual abuse. The Vatican has imposed penalties on 11 of the 12.