Anti-Jewish Priest faces removal call
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Anti-Jewish Priest faces removal call*
Tadeusz Rydzyk
Mr Rydzyk has not denied making the comments
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and a major Jewish human rights
organisation have called on the Catholic church to punish a
controversial Polish priest.
Father Tadeusz Rydzyk is accused of an anti-Semitic outburst, and of
insulting Mr Kaczynski, at a conference in April.
Mr Rydzyk says his remarks have been blown out of proportion.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has launched a petition calling for his
dismissal, and Mr Kaczynski says there must be "consequences".
Mr Rydzyk controls the influential Radio Maryja radio station, which
correspondents say helped Mr Kaczynski's Law and Justice party win
parliamentary and presidential elections in 2005.
Abortion
In tapes released by the weekly magazine Wprost, a voice alleged to be
Mr Rydzyk's is heard accusing Mr Kaczynski of being in the pocket of
Poland's Jewish community.
"You know what this is about: Poland giving [the Jews] $65bn.
"They will come to you and say, 'Give me your coat! Take off your
trousers! Give me your shoes!'" Mr Rydzyk said, according to Wprost.
The speaker is also heard calling President Kaczynski a liar, and his
wife Maria a "witch" because of her support for limited abortion rights,
which he compares to euthanasia.
"The first lady with this euthanasia... You witch, I'll let you have it.
If you want to kill people, do it to yourself first," he says on the tape.
'Jew-hatred'
Mr Rydzyk has accused Wprost of provocation, but has not denied making
the comments.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which campaigns against anti-Semitism and
extremism, said Mr Rydzyk was guilty of "leveraging Jew-hatred to
promote his extremist agenda".
President Kaczynski said that if the tape was genuine, the insult must
have consequences.
His brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said it was a "serious
problem" which Mr Rydzyk's superiors in the church needed to address.