Warsaw archbishop takes over despite findings he helped communists

Published: 2007-01-05

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus has become the new head of the Warsaw Archdiocese, despite findings by a church commission that he collaborated with Poland's former communist secret police. "From the material presented, it seems various bad intentions and attitudes about the church are being attributed to me," Archbishop Wielgus said in a Jan. 5 statement. "This is a falsification. There is absolutely no documentation to prove it, beyond the words of functionaries who viewed my person and the whole issue in their own way. I never betrayed Christ and his church in deeds, words or intentions. I never inflicted any harm on anyone," the bishop said. The statement was released three hours before Archbishop Wielgus formally assumed office in the archbishop's residence of the Polish capital, Warsaw. Cardinal Jozef Glemp, retired archbishop of Warsaw, welcomed his successor. An installation Mass was planned for Jan. 7.

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