COMMENTARY: Vatican Should Defrock Rev. Rydzyk of Poland

This week, several Jewish groups around the world became upset, after a Polish Catholic priest conveyed that Jews hold excessive power in Poland, and that Polish Jews are "not real Poles" with Polish interests at heart.

In fact, some Jewish groups became so enraged by the comments of Rev. Tadeusz Rydzyk that they called on the Vatican to reprimand him -- even going so far as to demand that he be defrocked.

Rydzyk made his comments at the European Parliament -- just days before Poland is scheduled to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU).

Rydzyk -- who runs a Catholic radio station and a TV channel in Poland -- also caused an uproar in Poland by calling his country a totalitarian state that "hasn't been ruled by Poles since 1939." (It was September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, thus beginning World War II. Also, Poland was a satellite country of the Soviet Union from 1945 until 1991.)

Rydzyk, then, is implying that although Poland became an independent nation in 1991 -- due to the collapse of the Soviet Union -- Poland is still a totalitarian nation because it is controlled by Jews. In other words, Rydzyk believes that only Roman Catholic Poles are "real Poles."

This defamation of Polish Jews and the nation of Poland is not the kind of message that a Christian priest should be conveying to his people. Consequently, the Vatican needs to scrutinize Rydzyk's speeches and his views towards Jews and Poland, and take appropriate action.

We believe it would behoove the Vatican -- and Poland itself -- if Rydzyk were defrocked.