A parish sold about 12.2 hectares on Warszawska Street to real estate company JHM Development in late January. Around 2,000 flats are planned for the site, now home to about 280 plots.
Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the parish transferred the land to the Poznań archdiocese on January 29, and the archdiocese sold it to the developer the same day. Under canon law, neither a parish priest nor an archbishop can sell church property without Vatican consent.
A 2019 Holy See document describing the site referred to “several partially built structures and summer houses” slated for demolition, the newspaper said. It described the land as generating no income and its occupants as living there unlawfully.
It did not say how many people lived on the estate, known as Osiedle Maltańskie, or that 260 families had lease agreements with the parish and paid rent regularly, Gazeta Wyborcza said. The Vatican approved the sale on the basis of materials supplied by the archdiocese, which declined to release them and did not say whether the Holy See had received an accurate and complete account.
In early September, the residents’ association “Maltańskie Nasz Dom” wrote to President Karol Nawrocki, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and politicians from the main parties, asking for help. It said it had sought assistance from Poznań city authorities for more than two years without success.
The association said the Church, “with the quiet consent of the Poznań city authorities, first sold the estate together with the people, and now evicts residents onto the pavement”. It said two residents had been evicted by a bailiff at the Church’s request and that about 200 families faced the threat of homelessness.
On September 2, a woman was evicted from the estate. Activists and politicians, including Piotr Ikonowicz, tried to block it. Police removed demonstrators by force and checked the identity of more than 60 people. Two people were injured.
Jacek Masiota, a lawyer for the company Komandoria, said the eviction followed repeated attempts to reach a deal, including an offer to fund a year’s rent on a flat. He said all decisions on enforcement were taken by the developer, the current owner, and that more than 120 agreements had been signed with residents.
About 80 plots remained formally outside agreements, he said, “but often they are also plots inhabited by residents for several generations”. Masiota said all structures on the site were unauthorised buildings unfit for habitation.
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Source: PAP, Polish Radio