Pope names new archbishop of Warsaw after spy scandal

VATICAN CITY, Mar 3 (Reuters) Pope Benedict today named Kazimierz Nycz to be archbishop of Warsaw, replacing Stanislaw Wielgus, who resigned in disgrace after admitting he spied for the communist police.

Nycz, 57, has since 2004 been bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, a city on the Baltic coast.

Wielgus resigned on January 7 during the mass at which he was to have been invested in his new office. The incident was a major embarrassment for the Vatican and the Polish Church.

On the day he resigned, Wielgus apologised for his actions and admitted he had hurt the Church.

Wielgus spied on his fellow clerics, many of whom fought against the Soviet-led regime. During the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of citizens in communist countries reported on their neighbours and co-workers.

Last month, a judge ruled that Wielgus will have a chance to clear his name after he asked a special vetting court to accept his case, saying secret agents had blackmailed and harassed him into cooperating.

Wielgus follows a string of government officials who have turned to the court to clear their names since Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski came to power and launched a crusade to remove former communists and collaborators from public life.

REUTERS SP VC1713