VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – Pope Benedict XVI offered encouragement to a Polish archbishop who was forced to resign amidst allegations that he spied for the nation's former communist regime.In a letter released Feb. 21 by the Vatican press office, Pope Benedict said that he hopes Archbishop Stanislaw Wieglus of Warsaw will have the opportunity to “resume your activity at the service of Christ in whatever way proves possible” and praised him for his spiritual virtues.
The newly-appointed archbishop of Warsaw resigned Jan. 7 just before he was due to be installed in his post and two days after it was suggested that he admitted to spying for Poland's former communist regime.
The pope, in the message dated Feb. 12, thanked the archbishop emeritus "for the trust with which you opened your soul before me, showing the anguished suffering of you heart throughout your life as a priest and bishop, until the moment of your resignation from the office of archbishop of Warsaw.”
"In recent times,” the pope said. “I have participated in your sufferings and wish to assure you of my spiritual closeness and fraternal understanding.”
He pointed to being “fully aware of the exceptional circumstances” in which Archbishop Wieglus served, “when the communist regime in Poland used all possible means to suffocate the freedom of citizens, and particularly of the clergy.”
The archbishop’s resignation, the pope said, was “an act of profound sensitivity for the good of the church” and demonstrated his “humility and detachment from office.”
“Maintain faith and serenity of heart,” the pope urged, hoping that “your vast and profound knowledge and priestly piety may be used for the good of the beloved church in Poland.”
The revelation that led to mounting pressure on Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus to resign was an early 2007 embarrassment for the Vatican and the Polish Catholic Church.
Archbishop Wielgus read his resignation to those gathered at a special Jan. 7 Mass in Warsaw Cathedral here that replaced 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 Archbishop Wielgus, who on Jan. 5 backed down from repeated denials that he collaborated with the secret services during the communist era.
The Vatican's apostolic nunciature in Poland said in a statement released by the Vatican said that the archbishop was asked to resign and that Pope Benedict XVI accepted it.
The mission said that the pope had asked Cardinal Jozef Glemp, Archbishop Wielgus' predecessor, to return as head of the Warsaw church temporarily until its future direction was determined, the brief statement added.
An official statement from the nunciature said that Archbishop Wieglus “on the day in which his installation in the basilica cathedral was to take place … submitted his resignation to his holiness Benedict XVI.” The pope, “in accordance with canon 401 no. 2 of the Code of Canon Law,” accepted the resignation and appointed Cardinal Glemp to the post “until new provisions are made.”
Canon 401 no. 2 reads, “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”
“Archbishop Wielgus’s past behavior during the years of the communist regime in Poland greatly compromised his ability to bear authority, especially in regards to the Christian faithful,” Father Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio Jan. 7. He acknowledged that the archbishop’s “humble and moving request for forgiveness” and his resignation will have a therapeutic effect on the healing of the Polish church.
"The wave of attacks on the Catholic Church in Poland, rather than a sincere quest for transparency and truth, has many aspects of a strange alliance between the persecutors of the past and their adversaries and a vendetta on their part," Father Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio.
The 67-year-old Archbishop Wielgus was named by the pope on Dec. 6 to succeed the retiring Cardinal Glemp, who remains the primate of the overwhelmingly Catholic country.
Just before Christmas, the Vatican released a statement insisting the pope had been fully briefed on Archbishop Wielgus' past and supported his appointment.
While the Catholic Church was a key and early supporter of the pro-democracy Solidarity movement during the 1980s, historians have suggested that a significant portion of the Polish clergy – up to an estimated 15 percent – may have been involved in collaborating with the Soviet-backed regime and its secret police.
Soon after the appointment of Archbishop Wielgus, Polish media reported that he had informed on fellow clerics for about 20 years from the late 1960s.
In the Jan. 5 statement, Archbishop Wielgus said that while he had had contacts with communist security agents, he denied reporting "on anyone nor deliberately try to hurt anyone."
He called “a falsification” the “various bad intentions and attitudes about the church” attribution to him.
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