Jan Pawel Lenga

Jan Paweł Lenga

Jan Paweł Lenga MIC (born March 28, 1950 in Horodok , Kamjanez-Podilskyj Oblast , Ukrainian SSR ) is a retired Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and was Bishop of Karaganda , Kazakhstan , until February 5, 2011 .

Life

Jan Paweł Lenga joined the religious order of the Congregation of Regular Clerics of Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Marians) . He studied in the underground Catholic theology and received on 28 May 1980 in Vilnius secret the priesthood .

Pope John Paul II named him Titular Bishop of Arba in 1991 and appointed him Apostolic Administrator for Kazakhstan and Central Asia (former Soviet Union ). He was ordained bishop on May 28, 1991 by the Apostolic Delegate of the Russian Federation and later Cardinal Francesco Colasuonno ; Co- consecrators were Jan Olszański MIC, Bishop of Kamjanez-Podilskyi in Ukraine , and Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz , Administrator in Russia and later Archbishop of the Archbishopric of Our Lady of Moscow .

With the elevation of the administration to the diocese of Karaganda in 1999 by Pope John Paul II , he was appointed first bishop. In 2003 he was appointed archbishop (personal title).

Archbishop Lenga and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider were welcomed by Pope Benedict XVI on February 5, 2011 . Released from the diocese leadership in Karaganda, Lenga retired at the age of 60, Schneider was transferred as auxiliary bishop to the Archdiocese of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Astana on February 5, 2011. In the internet portal of the Catholic Church in Germany kathisch.de this process is referred to as an “unusual personnel decision”; Schneider said that the reasons had never been given to him and "also not that important". On the same day Janusz Kaleta succeeded Lenga as Bishop of Karaganda. At the beginning of January 2015 Lenga criticized the current state of the Catholic Church in an open letter.

Controversy

Paweł Lenga MIC is now banned from speaking and performing in Poland, where he lives in retirement. The Polish Bishops' Conference forbade him to preach, publicly celebrate Mass and appear in the media after causing controversy in Poland with television appearances and a book publication. He publicly referred to Pope Francis as "Antichrist" and refuses to mention the reigning Pope, whom he calls "usurper and heretic", in prayer , as prescribed by the Church.

Jan Pawel Lenga is one of the signatories of a multilingual appeal by Carlo Maria Viganò on May 7th, 2020 with the Latin title “Veritas liberabit vos!” ( Truth will set you free , according to Jn 8,32  EU ), which is published on the Catholic Internet portal . de the German Bishops' Conference is called a "conglomerate of conspiracy myths and pseudoscience". It complains that under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rights and fundamental freedoms of many citizens are "disproportionately and unjustifiably restricted"; Public health should not become an alibi "to free civil authorities from their duty to act wisely for the common good". The text speaks of growing doubts about the actual risk of infection by the coronavirus and the reporting of the pandemic is referred to as " alarmism ". The containment measures taken fostered the interference of "foreign powers" with serious social and political consequences, according to the text signed by Catholic clergy, journalists, doctors and lawyers. There are forces “interested in creating panic in the population” and promoting “the isolation of individuals” in order to be able to better manipulate and control them. ”This is“ the disturbing prelude to the creation of a world government that beyond any control ”. The text was described by various media and church representatives as absurd and the theses expressed as conspiracy theories .

Web links

• Entry on Jan Paweł Lenga on catholic-hierarchy.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Jan Paweł Lenga", Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , accessed October 3, 2008
2. ↑ kathisch.de : Kazakh bishops contradict Pope Francis , January 2, 2018 [1]
3. ^ Vatican / Kazakhstan: New Bishops
4. ↑ Poland: Ban on speaking and appearing for bishops from Kazakhstan. Catholic.de of February 25, 2020
5. ^ Vatican / Kazakhstan: New Bishops ( Memento of February 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Vatican Radio , February 5, 2011
6. ^ Open letter from Archbishop Lenga dated January 1, 2015 , published on the Pius Brotherhood website on March 6, 2015
7. ↑ kathisch.de : Ban on speaking and appearing for bishops from Kazakhstan , February 25, 2020 [2]
8. ↑ Call. In: APPEAL FOR THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. Retrieved May 10, 2020 (American English). 
9. ↑ Church appeal with conspiracy theories . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 11, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
10. ^ Bishops spread conspiracy theories . In: Tagesschau.de , May 9, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Bishop of Karaganda 1991 to 2011	Janusz Kaleta