Reuters: Polish archbishop admits working with communists

[Eugene]

Polish archbishop admits working with communists
Fri Jan 5, 2007 8:05 PM GMT

By Natalia Reiter

WARSAW (Reuters) - The new archbishop of Warsaw on Friday admitted to having
worked with communist-era secret services, in a row that has embarrassed the church
in Catholic Poland and led to calls for his resignation.

In a statement issued late on Friday, 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 on Saturday.

-snip-

Poland's Roman Catholic Church earlier on Friday acknowledged that Wielgus had spied
for the communist-era secret services, increasing the pressure on the archbishop ahead
of his ceremonial appointment on Sunday.

-snip-

Full article: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?storyid=2007-01-05T200512Z_01_L05660393_RTRUKOC_0_UK-POLAND-CHURCH.xml

[xchrom]

1. buh-bye -- don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

[David__77]

2. Anything that weakens the Catholic Church in Poland is a good thing.

The leaders are outright fascists fighting for clerical rule and blatant theocracy - little in common with what's publically put forward in the US by clerics.

[Eugene]

3. BBC: Polish archbishop quits amid row

Last Updated: Sunday, 7 January 2007, 09:38 GMT

Polish archbishop quits amid row

The controversial archbishop of Warsaw has resigned, less than an hour
before he was due to be installed in his post, the Vatican has said.

Stanislaw Wielgus has been at the centre of communist-era spying row.

A special Mass had been planned for his installation on Sunday, despite
his recent admission that he had collaborated with the secret police.

The statement, by the Vatican's mission in Poland, said Pope Benedict
XVI had accepted the archbishop's resignation.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6238165.stm