Ceremony for Polish archbishop may be cancelled-TV

WARSAW, Jan 7 (Reuters) A ceremonial appointment of the new archbishop of Warsaw set for today could be cancelled after the cleric admitted he had spied for Poland's former communist regime, Polish public television reported.

Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, appointed by Pope Benedict on December. 6, backed down last Friday from earlier denials that he had collaborated with the secret services during the communist era.

The television said the ceremony may be cancelled but did not give a source for its report.

Poland's Roman Catholic Church acknowledged that Wielgus was once a spy for the communist-era secret services, increasing the pressure on the archbishop ahead of his ceremonial appointment which was due to take place at 1530 hrs today.

Wielgus was named by the Pope 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.

REUTERS SY RK1425