Polish prelate denies he failed to tell pope about police cooperation

Published: 2007-01-16

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The Polish archbishop who resigned after admitting he collaborated with his country's communist secret police denied claims that he failed to inform the pope about his past. Meanwhile, another archbishop has rejected accusations that he also acted as an informer and published an explanation of his secret police contacts. Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, who resigned in early January after serving for just two days as archbishop of Warsaw, told the Polish Catholic information agency, KAI, "In connection with media accusations that I gave the apostolic nuncio in Poland a false testimony about my contacts with the special services, I submit a copy of this testimony, whose contents I fully uphold. I swear by God in the Holy Trinity that, during the meetings and talks I held with police and intelligence representatives in connection with my trips abroad in the 1970s, I never acted against the church and never did or said anything bad against members of the clergy or laity," he told KAI in an interview published Jan. 13.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .