An alleged desecration of a crucifix at a primary school in northern Poland has triggered nationwide outrage in the predominantly Catholic country.

During an English class in the village of Kielno, a teacher reportedly ordered students to remove a crucifix from the classroom. When they refused, she allegedly climbed on a chair, knocked it down, and threw it into a trash bin, shocking students who protested the act. The teacher, however, said Jan. 9 that that the crucifix was not an object of religious worship but a toy and denied allegations.

Also on Jan. 9, the Catholic Education Commission of the Polish Episcopal Conference issued a statement saying that the alleged act was "directed against Christianity and the right of children to be raised in accordance with the worldview of their parents."

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For Agata Kamola, the mother of a seventh-grade student at a primary school in Kielno, the story began with a phone call.

"My son called from school. He was outraged," she told OSV News. "He said the teacher had desecrated the cross." What her son described that day in Kielno, a village in the Pomeranian region, quickly spread far beyond the walls of a local primary school. It reached prosecutors, politicians and church leaders.

According to Kamola's account, the incident occurred during an English lesson. The teacher ordered the students to remove the crucifix hanging in the classroom. When they firmly refused, she intervened herself. "She climbed onto a chair, knocked the cross down and threw it into a trash can," Kamola said. "She said that this 'plastic sh--' would not hang there and brushed her hands off with disgust. In front of the children. During the lesson."

The students, the mother said, were stunned. "The children were outraged. It was violence against their consciences," Kamola told OSV News. "They have their beliefs, and this teacher tried to impose her ideology on them."

In talking to Polish TV network TVN24, the teacher said however that it wasn't an ordinary cross, manufactured for religious purposes and an object of worship, but a plastic fragment of a Halloween costume that appeared above the class hamster's cage.

"It was clear from the beginning that it wasn't an object of religious worship. ... If it were such an object, it certainly wouldn't have been the right place for it," the teacher claimed.

"I'm a teacher, a tolerant person. I respect other people, including their faith. I would never throw something into the trash that is an object of worship for another person. And if, in the end, someone felt offended, I'm truly sorry," she added.

For Kamola and other parents, however, the episode struck a particularly sensitive nerve. The school is named after the Heroes of Westerplatte, Polish soldiers who resisted Nazi Germany in 1939 and became a national symbol of courage and fidelity. In Polish collective memory, the defense of faith and the defense of national dignity have often gone hand in hand.

"We lived through a time when crosses were taken down by the state," Kamola said. "We thought those days were over."

It was not the first time that particular teacher had an issue with a crucifix, the mother told OSV News, saying that previous incidents were known to the school's principal.

While the incident allegedly happened Dec. 15, the principal did not immediately react, parents claim, and the case only became known after the Christmas break when the mayor of the Szemud municipality, Ryszard Kalkowski, has filed a complaint with the district prosecutor's office in Wejherowo for violating religious freedom in the school premises. The teacher has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Poland's education ministry confirmed that disciplinary proceedings were underway. Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said Jan. 8 the behavior attributed to the teacher was unacceptable.

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"Regardless of what someone believes, everyone has the right to respect for the dignity of their faith," Nowacka said on Polish news channel TVN24. "This is a mistake that should not happen in a school."

In a Jan. 7 statement, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk said he received the news "with sorrow." "The cross -- a sign of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made out of love for every human being -- holds a special place not only in the hearts of believers, but also in Polish tradition and culture," the archbishop wrote.

"Every act of its desecration wounds the religious feelings of the faithful." He called on school authorities to provide "reliable and comprehensive explanations" and thanked those who prayed in reparation after the incident.

Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Kraków told Polish press agency PAP on Jan. 9 that "he doesn't know this person and doesn't know the reasons" behind the teacher's alleged behavior But "regardless of this woman's beliefs and personal situation, such things must not be done," Cardinal Rys emphasized.

The mother of the student said the emotional cost has been greatest for the children. "They were witnesses to this," she said. "That makes it especially delicate. It was a violation of their consciences, their will, their values."

The controversy in Kielno is unfolding against a broader European backdrop. Across the continent, the presence -- or absence -- of religious symbols in public schools has been debated for decades, with very different outcomes.

In France, strict secularism, or laïcite, bars religious symbols from public school classrooms and from students' attire, reflecting a long tradition of church-state separation.

Tensions over Catholic education have also intensified in the country in the past months. A recent report by Catholic education leaders warned that state inspections of Catholic schools have at times become overly intrusive, with educators citing pressure related to religious identity and Christian symbols. Catholic officials argue that such practices risk undermining the autonomy and character of faith-based education.

In Switzerland, courts in some cantons have ruled that crucifixes should not hang in public classrooms, citing state neutrality.

Italy offers a contrasting example. In the landmark Lautsi v. Italy case, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2011 that the presence of crucifixes in Italian public schools does not violate human rights, describing the cross as a "passive symbol" within a country's cultural tradition. Notably, the case concerned whether crosses could remain on classroom walls -- not their removal or destruction.

Spain, Germany and other countries continue to wrestle with similar questions, balancing religious heritage, pluralism and the rights of parents and children.

For Kamola, the European debate feels distant compared with the concrete experience of her son.

"This is not about politics," she said.

"It's about whether a child can feel safe in school being who he is."

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Her determination, she said, is rooted in faith and personal history. She nearly died giving birth to her son. "The doctors told me I shouldn't be alive," she said. "I was given a second life. Maybe this is my mission -- to defend what is most important."

(Katarzyna Szalajko writes for OSV News from Warsaw, Poland)