COMMUNICATION: Theatine Province of Italy “Bambin Gesù”
We are forced to publish the news that reached us in recent days regarding the measure taken against our confrere Aleksander Iwaszczonek:
Upon the news of the criminal investigation, first, and then the referral to trial, of Aleksander Iwaszczonek, Theatine priest of the Province of Italy “Bambin Gesù”, for the crimes of domestic abuse and sexual violence against a young Neapolitan (at the time of the events, twenty-three years old), aspiring to the priesthood, the reaction of the Province, which I now represent, was to trust and entrust itself to the civil justice system for the verification of the facts, having, moreover, no effective instrument to carry out an efficient internal investigation. Since under fundamental Italian law the accused is not considered guilty unless the contrary has been proven by a final judgment, it had been decided to treat confrere Aleksander Iwaszczonek as a presumed innocent person, until his guilt was legally and definitively proven through a trial.
Now, however, since the alleged victim has decided, by disseminating to the press the news of the crime, to “transfer” the “behind closed doors” judgment from the competent judicial venue to the public square, where instead it is public opinion that judges and condemns (today, more than ever, strongly predisposed and prejudicially opposed to men of the Church, regardless of what life they actually lead), it is deemed absolutely necessary, in respect for the dignity of all those involved in this story (and for the personal safety of confrere Aleksander Iwaszczonek himself, who could suffer, due to the unlawful dissemination of his image online, not only verbal but also physical assaults by evidently ill-intentioned people), TO SUSPEND FATHER ALEKSANDER IWASZCZONEK FROM ANY DUTY, AWAITING THE DECISION OF THE NAPLES COURT ON THE CASE.
In faith
Fr. Adam Marek Kowalczykowski C.R.
Provincial Superior of the Theatine Province of Italy “Bambin Gesù”
Palermo, September 18, 2025