Polish bishops: Vatican to make decisions on communist collaborators

Published: 2007-01-12

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The Polish bishops' conference has set out measures for easing the controversy caused by the Jan. 7 resignation of the archbishop of Warsaw, saying decisions about bishops who collaborated with the former communist regime would be left to the Vatican. After an emergency bishops' meeting in Warsaw Jan. 12, Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, conference president, said there had been unanimous agreement that a five-member church commission, created in October, would study secret police files on a Catholic bishop only if the bishop in question requested it. However, he said, a final decision about those "burdened by collaboration" would be left to the pope or relevant Vatican department after the documentation had been passed to them. Archbishop Michalik told journalists that a team of legal experts would be set up in March to help, while individual dioceses would be encouraged to form their own local commissions. However, he said, church investigators would provide only a "dry report" on the contents of files, without "judging or evaluating."

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