Vatican blames old foes for attacks on Polish church

VATICAN CITY, Jan 7 (Reuters) The Vatican hit back at its critics today after Warsaw's new archbishop resigned over a spying scandal, saying the Catholic Church had been the victim of a vendetta from its old communist foes.

Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus resigned today after admitting to spying for Poland's former communist regime just a month after being appointed to the post by Pope Benedict.

Wielgus's conduct ''gravely compromised his authority,'' and his resignation was an ''adequate solution'' despite his humble and moving request for pardon, the Vatican's top spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

The episode was a ''moment of great suffering for the Church,'' he said.

But Lombardi also said Wielgus was not the first and probably not the last Polish Church figure to be attacked on the basis of communist-era documents, which he said must be valued as a ''product of officials from an oppressive and blackmailing regime.'' ''The wave of attacks on the Catholic Church in Poland, rather than a sincere quest for transparency and truth, has many aspects of a strange alliance between the persecutors of the past and their adversaries and a vendetta on their part,'' Lombardi told Vatican Radio.

The incident has turned into a major embarrassment for Poland's powerful Catholic Church and for the Vatican which stood by Wielgus while the allegations grew.

''His resignation, however, may eventually be remembered as only the beginning of the story,'' John Allen, Vatican expert at the US weekly National Catholic Reporter wrote on his Web site, noting it could trigger further revelations about the penetration of security sources into the Polish church.

The Church was a key support for Poland's pro-democracy Solidarity movement during the 1980s but historians say as many as 10 per cent of the clergy could have cooperated with the Soviet-backed regime.

In his statement, Lombardi added that the Church was not afraid of the truth and urged followers to pray for and encourage the Polish Church at his time.

''We hope the Polish Church will know how to live through and overcome this difficult period with courage and clear-headedness,'' he said.

Pope Benedict, who baptised 13 babies in a ceremony at the Sistine Chapel and then addressed followers in his usual today address, made no reference to the scandal in his comments.

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