http://uk.news.yahoo.com/07012007/325/polish-archbishop-resigns-spying-row.html
Polish archbishop resigns in spying row Sunday January 7, 06:24 PM
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WARSAW (Reuters) - The newly appointed archbishop of Warsaw resigned
on Sunday
after admitting
he spied for
Polands former communist regime,
in a major embarrassment for the Vatican and the powerful Polish Catholic Church.
Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus read out his resignation,
which came at the request of Pope Benedict
who appointed him just a month ago,
at a special mass in Warsaw Cathedral replacing a formal ceremony
that was to have sworn him in.
In accordance with (Canon law) I submit to your Holiness my resignation as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw,
said Wielgus,
who on Friday backed down from repeated denials that
he collaborated with
the secret services
during the communist era.
Wielgus had gravely compromised his authority,
and his resignation was an adequate solution,
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
The episode was a moment of great suffering for the Church,
Lombardi told Vatican radio.
He said a wave of attacks on the Catholic Church in Poland bore all the hallmarks of a vendetta.
Hundreds of faithful gathered in the rain outside Warsaw cathedral to support Wielgus,
yelling Stay with us,
a chant used by crowds during visits by the late Polish-born Pope John Paul.
The Vaticans diplomatic mission in Poland said
Wielgus had been asked to resign.
A spokesman for the Polish episcopate said
that
under church law a bishop must resign
if he is unable to properly exercise his office (and therefore)
is
strongly requested to submit his resignation.
Last week a special PolishChurch commission found that
Wielgus had collaborated with communist-era
secret police.
FORCED TO COMPROMISE
Wielgus, 67, was named by the Pope
on December 6
to succeed the retiring Cardinal Jozef Glemp in one of the most influential positions
in the Polish church hierarchy.
The Vaticans mission said Glemp,
who remains primate of the overwhelmingly Catholic country,
would stand in temporarily as Warsaws archbishop.
Glemp told the mass Wielgus should not be judged too harshly as many Poles had been forced to compromise
during the communist era,
which began after World War Two and ended in 1989.
Poland is still struggling to come to terms with its communist past.
The Church supported the pro-democracy Solidarity movement
during the 1980s
but historians say up to 10 percent of the clergy could have cooperated
with the Soviet-backed regime
and
its feared
secret police.
It was a huge organisation
that penetrated all layers of Polish society and in particular the clergy,
which was the most independent and patriotic group,
Glemp said to cheers from the congregation.
Wielgus was forced by harassment, shouts and threats to become a collaborator.
This is the biggest crisis
to affect the PolishChurch for a generation,
said Jonathan Luxmoore,
an expert on Catholic matters.
The Pope could be damaged by this.
Soon after
Wielgus was appointed,
Polish media reported
that
he had informed on fellow clerics for about 20 years from the late 1960s.
In Fridays statement,
Wielgus said
he did not report on anyone nor deliberately try to hurt anyone.
Wielguss eventual admission
that
he had damaged the Church
when he had denied cooperating
with
the secret services
opened the door for the Pope to dismiss him
but he did not resign until the day of the ceremony.
Opinion polls before the resignation showed a majority of Poles felt Wielgus should quit.
But many older Catholics
who lived through Communism
are sympathetic.
There was huge pressure from the regime.
He went through a very tough time.
We should have great understanding,
said 79-year-old Maria Sokolowska.
(Additional reporting by Peter Andrews, Robert Strybel, Deepa Babington and Robin Pomeroy)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_service
Secret service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the form of government policing. For other meanings, see Secret Service (disambiguation).
Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved,
there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc.
For instance
a country may establish a secret service
which has some policing powers
(such as surveillance)
but not others.
A secret police may also be said to be a secret service.
The powers and duties of a government organization
may be partly secret and partly not.
The organization may be said to operate openly at home and secretly abroad,
or vice versa.
The most prominent organization bearing this title is the United States Secret Service,
but it is a law enforcement and protective agency,
and not a secret police or intelligence agency.
The British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), is sometimes referred to as a secret service, and this term was used for the title of the James Bond book and film On Her Majestys Secret Service.
[edit] See also
Espionage
History of secret police forces
List of intelligence agencies international and by country
Mass surveillance
This government-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_service
Categories: Government stubs | National security
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