Poland’s feared Communist-era secret services which persecuted Christians and political opponents.
"No, no, no," and "Stay with us," shouted members of the congregation as a visibly shaken Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus made his announcement in the packed Warsaw Cathedral, where he was to have been installed. Instead the ceremony, hastily cancelled, turned into a thanks-giving Sunday Mass dedicated to outgoing Cardinal Jozef Glemp, a fierce anti-Communist.
The Mass was attended by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, a staunch Catholic, but his twin brother and Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczynski stayed away, apparently because of the controversy.
Outside the cathedral, a crowd armed with umbrella’s braved heavy rain and followed the Mass through loudspeakers. As Wielgus tried to explain the reasons for his resignation, some of the faithful continued interrupting the bishop, calling him to stay in his place.
There were also protesters demanding his resignation.
Shortly before Wielgus stepped down, Pope Benedict XVI apparently personally suggested him not to stay in the post, as the spy scandal had embarrassed the Vatican and the Polish Catholic church.
MEDIA REPORTS
The pontiff appointed Wielgus December 6 to replace retiring Glemp, despite reports that he had contacts with the secret police for Poland’s former Communist regime.
Wielgus is believed to have informed on fellow clerics for around 20 years from the late 1960s.
In the highly charged atmosphere, a journalist of the weekly Gazeta Polska, which first broke the story, was reportedly physically attacked Sunday, January 7, by angry supporters of Archbishop Wielgus. It was not immediately clear if the reporter was seriously injured in the confrontation.
Gazeta Polska reported last month that Wielgus had been "an eager worker," first for the Communist police 4th department dedicated to destroying the Catholic Church and later for the regime’s intelligence unit.
"Then priest Stanislaw Wielgus continued his collaboration with the Communists, unintimidated
even by brutal murders on priests by the Communist secret services," the Polish Radio External Service later commented. He apparently agreed to cooperation with the Communist services in exchange for an opportunity to pursue his scientific career abroad.
SCANDAL WIDENS
Wielgus played down the collaboration, but the scandal soon widened when church officials also admitted that documents at a historical institute showed Wielgus had "willingly cooperated."
Poland’s ombudsman Janusz Kochanowski, who set up a special commission investigating the
documents, explained that there were no doubts that Archbishop Wielgus was an informant.
"There is no field for discussion here. We can speak about motives, effects but the fact is there," added Andrzej Paczkowski, a member of the commission, in comments aired on Polish radio.
As Polish media intensified calls for his resignation, Wielgus initially tried to clinch to his job as archbishop, saying he did not try to hurt anyone and that he expressed "remorse" for his involvement in the Communist secret services.
PRESSURE CONTINUES
However pressure continued on him to step down. A least one opinion poll showed that two in every three Poles thought he should resign and that priests who collaborated with the country’s Communist-era secret service "should not be appointed to prominent posts" in the church hierarchy.
"Polish people stand by the church and believe their priests, but now everybody knows he is lying, it is even worse that his cooperation with the Communists," commented Tomasz Sakiewicz, editor in chief of the Gazeta Polska
Eventually public opinion won. In a statement published Sunday, January 7, the Vatican said it had accepted Wielgus’ resignation and that the pope asked the 77-year-old outgoing Cardinal Glemp, to administer the archdiocese until a replacement is found.
The scandal has raised new concerns in Poland and other former Communist countries that more bishops and priests will soon be exposed for their possible links with the former secret services. (With BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest).
