We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN a Polish city burned a number of books they claim are sacrilegious over the weekend, including some from the popular Harry Potter and Twilight series.
In a Facebook post showing photographs of the public book burning, priests in the city of Koszalin quoted Old Testament passages. They urged believers to destroy the enemies of God, telling them to “burn their idols in the fire”.
The post on the page ‘SMS Foundation from Heaven’ shows three priests carrying a basket of books and other items including an African-styled face mask through a church to an outside fire pit.
Photographs show priests and two alter servers standing by the fire pit, where other items including a ‘Hello Kitty’ umbrella and a Hindu religious figurine, are also burning.
The group that posted the pictures is an evangelical foundation set up to spread Christian message via mobile phone texts.
Father Rafał Jarosiewicz from the Koszalin SMS Foundation from Heaven was in the news again last year when he started driving around Poland with a mobile confessional box.
One commenter on yesterday’s Facebook post said: “I’d like to believe this is a joke… Seriously? Are people burning fantasy literature in the 21st century in some kind of sick ritual?!”
“It’s hard for me to believe that we’re so backward!” they added.
In recent months, Poland’s influential Roman Catholic church has been struggling to deal with the fallout of revelations about paedophilia among priests that are unprecedented in this overwhelmingly Catholic country.
Last month, the Polish episcopate admitted for the first time that nearly 400 of its clergy had sexually abused children and minors over the last three decades.
That reflected the findings published in February by a charity focused on sex abuse in the church.
- With reporting by AFP.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Civilisation seems to be going backwards lately.
@LynchTrea: no it doesn’t, a few mad hatter catholic priests in Poland burning a few books of fiction, whilst demanding everyone follows another book of fiction is laughable and will not hamper societal progression in Poland or any other country. To the contrary, it will just make the ever shrinking pool of religious children realise this organisation is utterly bonkers.
@Darius Guppy: Dunno. Poland and eastern bloc has become fairly right wing the last while. Well Europe in general. Actually the world. If you burnt a copy of Jesus and Friends-Fairytales for all, then you’d know all about it.
@LynchTrea: well at least its just books and not people, like it would have been in the past!
Really on the zeitgeist with this one, aren’t they. Wait until they find out what John Lennon said.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: Poland and the eastern bloc are far more liberal than at other times in their history. The Catholic Church hold in Poland is rapidly decreasing and the actions of a few dogmatic clergy should not determine the societal progression of a country. I think I could safely burn a Bible in all EU countries without fear of death.
@LynchTrea: no, just the catholic church, and it’s not going backwards, it is stagnant and has been for centuries. Even if this is an April Fools joke, the above remains the truth.
@Darius Guppy: a Polish friend of mine told me there’s another controversy there over a child born as a result of IVF. A priest won’t baptize the child as he claims the child has no soul.
@James Wallace: again “A” priest, which should in no way decide the societal progression of Poland.
@Bernard McGarvey: that’s where it starts.
@Darius Guppy: strange Darius but all the prophecies in the New Testament have all been fulfilled with the exception of the last three and they do not augur well for a rebellious and pagan people but they are at the moment being fulfilled as we live
@Darius Guppy: he has dozens of such stories. But you are of course right that it’s moving in the right direction.
@James Wallace:
So much for ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me’!
The burning of books is always wrong…..Except for Twilight, burning Twilight books is ok
@Francis Devenney: Google burnt and will always burn books
This one’s not as good as the Theresa May on Eastenders one earlier.
They burned books they claimed are sacrilegious over the weekend? Presumably this means that they are considered ok from Monday to Friday?
Note to the author and the editor. It’s “Altar” not “Alter”! Could you Alter it please?
April fools, arf arf!
Harry Potter and JC himself aren’t exactly……..poles apart.
They are trying to take the eye off their own Priests and Paedophilia and trying to reinstate their dwindling hold over a Catholic nation, They can see the empty coffers and pews in Ireland after all our revelations, not to mention the measly turnout for the head honcho.
.
Life lesson pro tip…… Never trust a person who can clear their conscience of any immoral act by asking forgiveness from their imaginary friend…
Nothing like a bit of book burning to distract people from the revelations of child abuse in the catholic church in Poland…
Poland is at a similar point to Ireland in the 1980′s with the relationship with the church, but the rise of the right wing gives it an entirely different dimension which appears to be filling something of a vacuum.
@David Van-Standen: actually I am pleased to say this is likely to shine an even brighter torch on the perverted behaviour of the Catholic Church.
“well, the fumes from the DVDs might be toxic and I’ve still got your money, so by all means borrow my lighter” – JK Rowling
Only for the catholic church destroyed itself in Ireland they’d be doing this here still,
After all films like life of Brian were banned in Ireland in the 1980s…. Don’t want to upset the church after all.
@Barry Somers: they burned copies of ‘the tailor and ansty’ here, back in the day.
Really. Priests….. men in frocks telling us to believe in that old fairytale of something magical that you can’t see or touch all powerful figure that is not of this world. Sounds like a Harry Potter book to me.
April Fool’s?
@Count Craicula: if only!
We also had our book burning sessions here Included were “The Tailor and Ansty” and “The Valley of The Squinting Windows”
Did they burn the bible? If not then why not?
@Ed: They’re still in the Old Testament part so they haven’t gotten halfway yet….could turn out to be a thriller.
@Fozz: yeah, he dies at the end. Oops.
I remember that last time someone decided to burn books, that didn’t turn out so well.
Really. In 2019. I would have thought the Poles would frown upon book burning after all thier next door neighbours book burning escalated to actual people burning.
They are also protesting the government decision to move April Fools Day to May 1st.
Ireland not too far back in the past
“Where books are burned in the end people will also be burned”
Isn’t burning Hindu religious figurines sacriligious too?? Where are our resident nut jobs to commend this action??
@Rob Cahill: Yes but as everyone knows all that Hindu stuff isn’t real and shouldn’t be believed.
Unlike our own medieval death cult and all its perfectly normal miracles and angels and such.
Clear as day.
OK if we are going that way the burn all the pedo priests and those that helped.
This an April Fool joke?
@Fintan Power: if it is it’s very unfair of so many news outlets to push the same hoax
If the Pope isn’t at home with his hands on his head then there’s no hope for man kind.
A line form an Iron Maiden song comes to mind – “Burning records, burning books, holy soldiers, Nazi looks”
We laugh but I wonder if Ireland in the 80s would have been so different.
Western Pomerania, probably not as orthodox as parts of Silesia and the fact that’s its 1st April makes doubt this.
@John O’Keeffe: as far as I’m aware it’s not true.
@Dave O’Keeffe: unfortunately Dave it looks like it’s genuine. The local newspaper, the Koszalin voice published the story yesterday.
Old Testament? About as looney as the Zionists so.
Proof reading?? Altar server, not Alter server.
APRIL FOOLS
Father Ronan Mullensky?
I agree with this. You only have to look up the fact that JK Rowling is into channeling and used real occult spells in Harry Potter. Or you can keep your head in the sand, laugh and pretend it’s all backward and that there is no God.
@Rónán Ó H-Inneirghí: Not believing the thing you believe = head in the sand. Got it.
@Rónán Ó H-Inneirghí:
Your head is so full of sand , you poor guy.
Still a better love story than twilight.
I wonder if this is an April Fools joke? Damn Harry Potter with its blatant pedophilia, and that spawn of the devil “Hello Kitty”. As someone else said, they can burn as many Twilight books as they want though.
Backwards idiots
Idiots.
@Kate Kelly: So True; when someone can’t deal with things mentally, they deal with them Physically.!!
It’s the priests that need to be put in the fire.
End of story
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say