Polish archbishop admits cooperated with communists

By Staff
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WARSAW, Jan 5 (Reuters) The newly appointed archbishop of Warsaw admitted today he had worked with the communist-era secret services, upping pressure on him to resign in a row which has embarrassed the church in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland.

In a statement issued late today, Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, appointed by the Pope on December. 6, appeared to back down from earlier denials in the row and to open the door for the Pope to remove him from office.

''By the fact of this entanglement I have damaged the church ...

I will respect any decision the Pope makes,'' Wielgus said in a statement on the church's Web site that is to be read to churchgoers tomorrow.

''I damaged the church again when in recent days, amid a hot media campaign, I denied the facts of this cooperation.'' Poland's Roman Catholic Church earlier today acknowledged that Wielgus had spied for the communist-era secret services, increasing the pressure on the archbishop ahead of his ceremonial appointment on Sunday.

Wielgus was named by Pope Benedict to succeed the retiring Cardinal Jozef Glemp, a figurehead of the long struggle against communism, in one of the most influential positions in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland's church hierarchy.

Soon after his appointment, Polish media reported that he had informed on fellow clerics for around 20 years from the late 1960s.

Wielgus maintained in today's statement that he ''did not report on anyone nor deliberately try to hurt anyone''.

But a special Church commission said in a statement there was sufficient evidence to confirm he was a willing informer.

''There are plenty of important documents which confirm Wielgus' willingness to ... cooperate,'' the commission said.

Wielgus formally took up his job today and is due to be ceremonially invested at a mass on Sunday attended by the president and other government officials.

''POPE'S DECISION'' Wielgus, however, gave no indication that he would resign, a step widely expected by Church commentators and some Church officials.

The Polish Catholic Church said it had been the Pope's decision to appoint Wielgus, and that it could not make any comment about his resignation.

The Vatican says it examined the archbishop's past before the nomination and has so far refused to make any further comment.

But an opinion poll released today said a majority of Poles believed he should not take up his post.

In the 1980s, the church supported the pro-democracy Solidarity movement and, along with Polish-born Pope John Paul II, played a crucial role in bringing down communism in 1989.

But church historians say that up to 10 per cent of the clergy may have cooperated knowingly or unknowingly with the Soviet-controlled communist authorities. The church has so far refused to make their names public.

Commentators say the scandal is the biggest crisis for the Polish church in the last 17 years.

''The whole issue is a terrible embarrassment,'' said Tomasz Wiscicki, a religious affairs analyst. ''Poles are now testing their relations with the Vatican without John Paul.'' An editorial in the daily Dziennik said it would be a ''moral scandal'' if the archbishop did not resign.

REUTERS SRS PM0036

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