Arch-collaborator of Warsaw

Stanisław Wielgus was appointed Archbishop of Warsaw last month by Pope Benedict XVI. This is one of the top positions in the Polish Catholic church's hierarchy, and Wielgus was due to officially take the post at a ceremony on January 7.

Last month, Wielgus denied allegations published in a right-wing newspaper that he had spied and reported on dissidents for the communist secret police (SB), saying he was the victim of a smear campaign. He later admitted he had spoken to police agents but said he never filed a report.

Last week, daily Rzeczpospolita ran a front-page article detailing what it described as 20 years of cooperation between Wielgus and the SB, with evidence based on files from the national archives.

The daily claimed Wielgus met with police agents more than 50 times over a five-year period, passing them information about the church's personnel decisions. Finally, in an statement issued late on Friday, Archbishop Wielgus did an about-face, admitting his guilt in the matter.

"By the fact of this entanglement I have damaged the church ... I will respect any decision the Pope makes," he said.

Already under fire to resign, Wielgus' confession is unlikely to calm his critics. The situation is made more sensitive due to the fact that his predecessor, Cardinal Józef Glemp, was at the forefront of the struggle against communism and Poland's ruling coalition is headed by dedicated anti-communists.

Although Wielgus has said he would leave the decision in the Pope's hands, remaining in the Archbishop's office could damage the church's standing in a country which still struggles with its communist past.

Some historians say up to 10 percent of clergy may have knowingly or unknowingly cooperated with the Soviet-controlled communist authorities. The church, however, has refused to make collaborators' names public. (Reuters)

LM