Poland
Polish Primate's defense of spy sparks outrage
Classified Polnews
Warsaw, Poland January 9, 2007. The turmoil in Poland's Roman Catholic Church was increased when Polish Primate Cardinal Jozef Glemp made remarks defending his replacement who resigned the position under pressure. The remarks were made in a sermon delivered by Cardinal Glemp at the ceremony at which Archbishop Wielgus was to be formally installed as the new Primate.
In his sermon he asked who should be believed - an honorable man or communist agents who wrote the files. He went on to say that the agency keeping the secret service records should not be considered an oracle. In spite of the fact that a church historical commission said it had found evidence that Bishop Wielgus had co-operated with the secret services, Glemp added, "Today a judgment was passed on Bishop Wielgus. But what kind of judgment was it, based on some documents and shreds of paper photocopied three times over? We do not want such judgments."
And he warned of the dangers of passing judgment based on incomplete and flawed documents written by communists.
Some took his remarks as a direct challenge to the decision of the Vatican on the resignation of Wielgus.
Others were outraged that he would come to the defense of a spy. For the most part, Catholics around Poland, who instinctively hate the secret service were shocked, disappointed and outraged by the Primate's immediate defense of a spy, who in his own words, harmed their church. How could he dare to defend someone like that?
The disclosure is particularly troubling to many because it shakes a widely held belief that the church acted as a courageous opponent of communism. Secret police agents not only spied on the church, but also brutally murdered a charismatic Warsaw priest tied to Solidarity, the Rev. Jerzy Popieluszko, in 1984. http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070108/NEWS01/701080346/1002/NEWS0 Why he did it has raised questions in some minds. As Primate it would seem that he should be trying to unite the Polish Church and guide it through the turmoil. So why did he make remarks that only helped increase the divide in the Polish Clergy? Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, without naming sources, said the pope only received an 80-page fax about Wielgus' spying on Saturday evening.
The fax was sent by the Polish government and translated into Benedict's native language, German. See http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/08/poland.archbishop.reut/index.html So was he defending his own position on apparently incomplete report to the Vatican? There is a lot of maneuvering and positioning going on now as people take sides over the vetting of church officials. And while the Church involves itself in that, Catholics are still talking about what was said. Any many are not happy, to say the least.
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