CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 8, 2023--

The Pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been hit by reports of an orgy involving priests and a male sex worker. The Vatican did not give any reason for the departure of 59-year-old Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland. The bishop resigned after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation over reports from last month that he had organised a sex party. It was also alleged that the male sex worker who had been invited to the orgy involving priests from the diocese had lost consciousness due to an overdose of erectile dysfunction pills. In September, Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily Polish newspaper, published a report stating that during the gathering, which took place in a facility owned by the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels in Dabrowa Gornicza, one of the priests had contacted emergency services to request an ambulance. But the paper — according to the New York Times — reported that the priests at the event hindered paramedics from helping the unconscious man. Paramedics later called the police and only then the priests relented. Waldemar Lubniewski, spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Sosnowiec, said at the time the investigation was focused on a “failure to provide assistance to a person in a situation that poses an immediate threat of loss of life or serious damage to health”. Father Tomasz Z, the priest who allegedly arranged the sex party within his church apartment, was identified solely by the diocese. He spoke with the Polish media last month, contesting the specific details of the incident. He questioned the accuracy of the count of priests present during the alleged sex party and remarked, “it is worth reading what the definition of an orgy is”. He brushed off the controversy over the events in his apartment as “an obvious attack on the church, including the clergy and believers” and said that the uproar would not have happened if “something similar had happened” to a person outside the clergy. But the diocese largely corroborated the media reports. It said that an outside investigative commission had concluded that Father Tomasz committed “a very serious violation of moral norms” as well as of his obligations as a priest. In a statement last month, the diocese said that the “participation” of Father Tomasz “in what happened on the night of August 30-31 is not in doubt”. It said that he had been stripped of all functions at the diocese and was “sent to live outside the parish”. Kaszak announced his resignation on 24 October but did not provide any more details. He has not been accused of having been involved in the alleged orgy but reports say he is being held responsible for the conduct of the priests under his diocese. “I ask everyone to forgive my human limitations,” he wrote in his statement. “If I have offended anyone or neglected something, I am very sorry.” Kaszak was designated as a bishop in 2009 by the then-Pope Benedict XVI, following a brief stint as the second-in-command in the Vatican’s family office. The Vatican embassy in Poland has announced that Archbishop Adrian Galbas of Katowice will serve as a temporary administrator, overseeing the diocese of Sosnowiec until the appointment of a new bishop. Read More The pope's absolute power, and the problems it can cause, are on display in 2 Vatican trials Vatican defends wartime Pope Pius XII as conference honors Israeli victims of Hamas incursion Pope Francis pushes to ‘open church to all’ as critics accuse him of ‘poisoning’ Catholicism 'Let's Fly,' the latest exhibition from the Balloon Museum, awakens childlike wonder in all of us Experts reconstruct the face of Peru’s most famous mummy, a teenage Inca sacrificed in Andean snow Pope accepts resignation of bishop of Polish diocese where gay orgy scandal under investigation

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The records kept getting set almost as fast as the Miami Dolphins scored last week against the Denver Broncos

Arsenal and Tottenham put their unbeaten Premier League records on the line as the two in-form rivals meet in the north London derby at the Emirates. Mikel Arteta’s Gunners and Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs have both mode fast starts to the season, and sit just off the top with four wins and a draw out of their first five matches. Postecoglou has made an impressive impact at Tottenham and has lifted the mood around the club ahead of his first taste of the derby. But new-look Tottenham face their biggest test of the season yet against a dangerous Arsenal attack, which thrashed PSV in their Champions League return in midweek. Follow live updates as Arsenal host Tottenham in the north London derby and get all the latest match odds here. Read More Is Arsenal vs Tottenham on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Premier League fixture Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson Ange Postecoglou points out the differences between himself and Mikel Arteta

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A man who stayed awake for 11 straight days to set a world record has spoken about how he experienced his brain starting to ‘break down’. Englishman Tony Wright went an incredible 266 hours without sleep back in 2007 and set a new record – only to see it broken by someone else just a month later. Wright spoke about his experience in a clip posted by the YouTube channel Sleep Gods, saying that an entirely different part of his brain was activated during his record attempt. "Basically, you're starving the rational mind, the egotistical mind of sleep, and it's battery is running down. And of course, it doesn't feel very good, it feels tired. Wright added: "But if you push beyond that, its ability to stay in charge starts to break down as well. And that's where you can start to get glimpses of access to the other side of the brain, the other self." Man Who Didn't Sleep For 11 Days Explains Sleep Deprivation www.youtube.com "I've spoken to a lot of people about this. Most people have recollections where they've been partying, or they've been working hard, and sure they get tired, but within that they get glimpses of something else.” He went on to say: "That kind of softness, or a more relaxed state - often more emotional, because again, there's more access to that emotional side of the brain. "Even feeling quite good, quite an altered state for brief windows, or getting a second wind even. You know, be really, really tired, no sleep, and then suddenly feeling fine for half an hour or an hour. "So all I really did, or what I was interested in, is making sense of that. And is it possible to exploit that and bring in combining techniques to tie the left side of the brain up, which initially doesn't feel great, but the reward on the other side of that makes it worth the effort." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Ivory Coast's leader said the Ecowas bloc had approved military intervention "as soon as possible".