Jerzy Kwasniewski Ordo Iuris: We defended Fr Guz! The priest was facing 3 years in prison

Last year Fr. prof. Tadeusz Guz was the victim of a perfidious attack. The priest and lecturer of the Catholic University of Lublin was accused of “calling to hatred” by the judaic Association B’nai B’ritt in the Republic of Poland. His responsibility was to give a lecture during the promotion of the book “Salvation Begins with Jews”, published by the publishing home of Loretanek Sisters.

We couldn't leave the clergyman without help. We promised to defend him from ridiculous charges and keep our word. We knew that the defence had to be led with large care not to give prosecutors the pretext they wanted to unleash anti-Polish hysteria.

The accusers demanded that the priest be punished! But that wasn't enough. They besides demanded the punishment... of the disciplinary spokesperson for the KUL and all the professors on the disciplinary board of the university. Why? For these did not see in the statements of Fr Guz any "call to hatred." In the unusual logic of the accusers, the resignation of disciplinary action was equivalent to... the praise of the crime of "invoking hatred." Interestingly, however, they did not proceed to the prosecution of prosecutors who besides failed to announcement in the lecture of Fr. Prof. Guz the crime and did not conduct the case from public prosecution...

A fewer months ago, we reported that the Professors of KUL had been released from the charges. I'm happy to share any more excellent news today.

In the case of the prosecution against Fr Prof. Guz, we had a devastating victory!

At our request, the court dismissed the average trial and simply dismissed the case as completely unfounded. specified a fast and decisive settlement happens seldom and concerns only the charges sucked out. On our advice, however, the court could trust partially on the findings of the professors of the KUL, and partially divide the assessment of the case expressed by the prosecutor. I was peculiarly pleased that the accusers were charged with the costs. Although in the Polish legal strategy only tiny amounts, their payment will be an crucial symbol.

We are facing a likely complaint from the prosecutors who will request the annulment of the court's decision. I do not regulation out that their goal is simply the intellectual and financial repression of the Priest Professor. However, they came across a tough opponent with dedicated lawyers, and with facilities ready to support Friends and Donors of Ordo Iuris. And this origin in their calculations may not have been predicted.

Thank you, Father Guz, for the aid of the lawyers of Ordo Iuris, which we received after the dismissal of the case, of course, to all our Friends and Contributors, without whom we could not supply free legal assistance to the victims of censorship.

Your financial support for our mission allows you to enjoy this and another victories. It is thanks to Donors and Friends that we can build an effective and courageous squad of lawyers, willing to execute in the most hard cases and able to take on attacks from powerful opponents. Without this courage and effectiveness, we could not fight for fact and justice.

Attacks on Fr. Prof. Guz began in 2018. It was at that time that the priest gave a lecture at the promotional gathering of the Polish translation of the book “Salvation Takes From Jews”, an autobiography of Roy H. Schoeman – an American hebrew of German origin, converted to Catholicism.

The lecture by Fr Guz was given at the Pilgrim's home of Amicus at the Warsaw parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka and published online entitled "How God Will Complete the past of Salvation". The full lecture can inactive be viewed on YouTube.

The full lecture was respectful of the apparent function of Jews and Judaism in the past of salvation. Knowing the full recording clearly shows that in the message of the accused priest there is no hateful content. On the contrary! The gathering began prayer in the intention of blessing the judaic people. The autobiography of Roy H. Schoeman is besides full of empathy towards Jews. And his conversion to Catholicism is not an act of hatred!

The accusation of the accusers concerns a thread that took only a fewer minutes during a long lecture.

At the end of his speech and on the basis of the reflections of the author himself, Fr. prof. Tadeusz Guz digressively considered the sources of anti-Semitism of arabian and European. He besides recalled the fact that the courts of the First Republic condemned Jews “for ritual murders”. This passage became the essence of the accusations, was investigated by the prosecutor and Disciplinary Ombudsman of the CUL. In the words of the priest there was no call for resentment or hatred at all, and the lecture ended with an encouragement to pray together with the words of Saint Edith Stein – converted to judaic Catholicism, murdered by German torturers in Auschwitz.

First, representatives of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews demanded the punishment of prof. Tadeusz Guz. In consequence to public accusations, Priest prof. (in his right, very balanced and calm manner) explained that he had a serious technological accomplishment in defending the dignity of the Jews. He recalled his publications in which he dealt with attacks on Judaism – present in Protestant theology. Prof. Guz besides expressed his full readiness for a factual and public debate with critics, and besides mentioned authors who had previously referred to the alleged " ritual murders" from him – including Prof. Ariel Toaff from Bar-Ilan University in Israel or... father of postmodernism, author and erudite Umberto Eco, defending Prof. Toaff in the 2007 essay.

KUL – the professor's home university – initiated an investigation as a consequence of the notification. However, after careful examination of the case, the professor's disciplinary committee stated in October 2020 that there was no breach of the rules of the academic teachers. To be honest, 1 cannot come to another conclusion after listening to the full lecture – not its short and out of context fragment.

The case besides went to the D.A.'s office, which besides failed to see Fr. Guz's words "invoking hatred".

The prosecutors did not quit and appeal to all the decisions favorable to the Professor. Ineffectively.

The B’nai B’ritt Society continues to fight for the punishment of a priest

The judaic B’nai B’rith Association began the attack directly. By replacing the D.A., she reached for the institution of a subsidiary indictment and referred the case to court.

In addition to the severe punishment for Fr. Guz, she demanded that the members of the disciplinary committee of KUL and the disciplinary spokesperson of Lublin University be punished. The prosecutors argued that the resignation of the proceedings was a "expression of praise" for the "wider hatred" of Fr. It's a wonder the prosecutor didn't file charges... with prosecutors who have repeatedly decommissioned the proceedings.

Another novelty, which the indictment of the B’nai B’rith Association introduced to the Polish legal order, was the effort to hold Fr. Guz liable for... comments of the net users on recording his lecture.

We could not minimize the matter, knowing the importance of the opponent, who had planned beyond uncertainty from the conviction of the prof. to make a planet spectacle. You should have acted.

The B’nai B’rith Association, which assumes its lodges around the planet and boasts of large influences, in Poland it is constantly controversial and feeds conflicts. In 2021, B’nai B’rith defended Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski – authors of the controversial survey “Next is the Night. The destiny of Jews in selected districts of occupied Poland”. The B’nai B’rith Society then issued a peculiar message in which it named the authors of the book – widely criticized for their deficiency of credibility – “outstanding researchers”. The activists from the association did not learn anything, however, and in January 2025 they indecently reprimanded Poles, that "the State of Israel is the heir to the Holocaust murdered", and in April criticized restrictions on mass migration to Poland.

When Fr. Prof. Guz came to Ordo Iuris to ask for help, I had no uncertainty that we had to support him.

If the Institute had refused to help, the exemplary punishment of the priest and scientist would have paved the way for the elimination of freedom of speech, freedom of thought and academic freedom in Poland. Moreover, confirming the absurd presumption that net content developers should be punished for comments published under their posts or recordings could lead to the anticipation that each of us could go to jail.

Our taking up the defence of Fr. Prof. Guz active a peculiar risk. The opponent wanted to make his legally hopeless cause... a loud conflict with “Polish anti-Semitism”, attributed stereotypically to Catholics. In this way, the defence of Fr Prof. Guz was to become impossible, and any defence of freedom of speech could have been treated on an equal footing with the alleged crime of "the speech of hatred" of the priest himself. A informing for us and for all the priest's defenders was to be charged with the members of the university disciplinary committee

But we did not let ourselves be intimidated. Lawyers Ordo Iuris referred the application to the Warsaw regional court to discontinue proceedings. In the explanatory memorandum of the proposal, we cited the content of the Constitutional Court judgement of February 25, 2014, in which the Constitutional Tribunal stressed that "revocation to hatred" is an indefinite and unacute concept, and cannot so be interpreted in an extension manner. We besides recalled the ultimate Court's order of 1 September 2011, where it was clearly pointed out that "invoking hatred" could not be understood as triggering feelings of disapproval, antipathy, prejudice or resentment. A circumstantial intention of the perpetrator is required to rise the strongest negative emotion in the audience against the background of spiritual or cultural differences.

We stressed that the analysis of the full lecture by Fr Guz – not just the fragment cited by the accusers – leaves no uncertainty that the priest's speech does not bear the signs of a forbidden act, due to the fact that he does not call for hatred against Jews and the judaic people. Moreover, erstwhile the prof. was interrogated – even before the substance went to court – he admitted that he had never expressed disapproval of the judaic nation, stressing that both this nation and the another nations of humanity were created by God and so he is besides the subject of his love.

This week the territory Court for Warsaw-Żoliborz in Warsaw issued a resolution on this matter. He took full account of our motion to discontinue the proceedings, stressing in the justification the absurdity of the charges and that the message for which Fr. Guz was accused of "invoking hatred" was removed from the context of the almost three-hour lecture. The court besides stressed the importance of constitutional freedom of expression, indicating that the adoption of different proposals would lead to the restoration of universal censorship. In addition, the court stressed that the defendant’s message was an assessment of a peculiar historical phenomenon, taking the form of a discussion. The place where the message was made was appropriate for specified a discussion.

The court besides acknowledged our position in terms of intent and the request to influence the psyche for a circumstantial intent and powerfully rejected the thesis of prosecutors, that the author of the lecture could be liable for comments from anonymous net users.

This ruling of the Warsaw territory Court is not yet final. Given the stubbornness with which the lawyers representing the judaic association have so far fought to punish Fr. Guz, we anticipate the prosecutors to appeal against the adverse decision of the court.

As I mentioned earlier, our opponent is most likely playing for the intellectual and financial repression of the Priest Professor. However, we will not let this, with our collective forces – and thanks to your support too!

Therefore, we are calmly preparing for the last (hopefully!) episode of this process. This means the request for substantive preparation and for the collection of appropriate measures. Another hours of work and the request to affect experts are costs of between 15 000 and 20 000 PLN.

However, we do much more than that. And each can become a dangerous precedent, allowing for the improvement of creeping censorship and word control.

We aid a sick pensioner and a boy struggling with autism and a slight intellectual disability who is facing up to 3 years in prison present for comments on Jerzy Owsiak. The court late accepted our request and decided to waive the police oversight imposed on the old lady. But this is only the beginning of the fight.

We are inactive fighting in defence of Mr Adam – a computer scientist from Warsaw who was released from the global IT corp for opposing 350 employees of the company to participate in the Warsaw Equality Parade.

We besides defend the authors of the run "Stop pedophilia", who are being bullied and accused of revealing the fact about the actual demands of the LGBT movement.

I believe that we will win in all these matters, but our strength is straight dependent on the support of our Donors.

In the area of freedom of speech and conscience alone, we have major victories. In Germany, we successfully defended Fr.Dariusz Oko, who was accused of "spreading hatred" for a published technological article. A fewer weeks ago, we had an crucial triumph before the ultimate Court, where a final verdict was maintained in acquittal of pro-life activists from charges against the "Stop Peedophile" campaign. Recently, the media – including abroad media – besides informed about our triumph in the case of Janusz Komenda – an worker of the IKEA furniture salon, who was released for not wanting to participate in an action promoting the LGBT movement's demands.

Were it not for the lawyers of Ordo Iuris, people like Fr. Prof. Guz could not number on any support. As a result, many people could... go to jail for telling the truth!

Jerzy Kwasniewski Ordo Iuris

P.S. The excellent news of the triumph in the trial of Fr. Prof. Guz reached me on the way from Aruza, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya, where we co-organise – together with organisations from Africa, the USA, the United Kingdom and Spain – the 2nd Pan-African legislature for household Values. We usage this platform to meet African lawyers and politicians, encouraging them to participate actively in the work of the UN, WHO and another global institutions, where global law is forged. We came to Kenya with a guide prepared by the experts of Ordo Iuris for organizations wishing to get – like Ordo Iuris – a consultative position in global institutions.