Archbishop of Warsaw resigns, Weigel warns of future 'blackmail'
Print Friendly VersionBy JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York
In a turn of events stunning for its rapidity, Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the new Archbishop of Warsaw just one month ago, announced his resignation today in the wake of on-going revelations about his collaboration with Communist-era security forces
His resignation, however, may eventually be remembered as only the beginning of the story. Polish sources told NCR today that further revelations about the penetration of security forces into the Polish church during the Communist era are expected, including the possible release of a dossier on another sitting Polish bishop as early as next week.
American Catholic writer George Weigel, who teaches regularly in Poland and has extensive contacts in the Polish church, said the Wielgus episode illustrates the need for the church to deal with this chapter of its past.
"It has the responsibility to make a full public record using these materials in a responsible way," Weigel said in an interview with NCR this morning. "Otherwise, it will be open to media exaggerations and distortions, and perhaps international blackmail."
By that, Weigel said he meant the manipulation of similar revelations by forces which have an interest in undermining the moral authority of the Polish Catholic church.
Under the codenames “Adam” and “Gray,” Wielgus apparently was recruited as a young professor of medieval philosophy in 1973, documents produced from Polish archives this week show, and had contacts with the security forces over the next three decades. Wielgus signed a form promising to collaborate. According to media reports, he received special training, was allowed to travel abroad in exchange for intelligence reports, and provided analyses of his colleagues as well as members of the Polish hierarchy.
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Earlier stories on this topic: Controversy over Warsaw archbishop’s Communist-era role deepens Posted on Jan 4, 2007 Debate over archbishop hints at deeper Polish questions Posted on Dec 26, 2006 |
Weigel said this material is drawn from more than 100 miles of documents from the security forces which have long been available to scholars and researchers, and that "responsible" scholars from Poland's Institute of National Memory, charged with studying the material, "some of whom are very serious Catholics," had warned that the Wielgus appointment would be a problem.
"This was all avoidable," Weigel said.
On Dec. 21, as the controversy first erupted, the Vatican issued a statement saying that Wielgus' past had been taken into consideration, and that Benedict XVI had “full confidence” in his nominee. Over the last week, however, that confidence crumbled.
Recent revelations about Wielgus “have gravely compromised his authority, including among the faithful,” said Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, today. The resignation is “the right solution to deal with the disorientation created in that nation,” Lombardi told Vatican Radio.
Wielgus made his announcement during Mass of thanksgiving for Cardinal Jozef Glemp, who was to end his term as Archbishop of Warsaw today. Instead, Glemp has now been asked to stay on as Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese until Benedict XVI names another successor.
Cries of “Stay With Us!” broke out in the Warsaw cathedral as Wielgus spoke, and Glemp went on to speak critically about the pressures that led to the resignation.
Benedict will want to proceed cautiously to make sure his next pick doesn’t have a similar set of skeletons in his closet, and that may be a complicated process, according to Tomasz Pompowski, an editor with DZIENNIK, an influential Polish newspaper, who has followed the Wielgus case closely.
Pompowski told NCR that he’s aware of 20 cases involving alleged collaboration by bishops, who were recruited earlier in their clerical careers and groomed as they moved up the system. Pompowski said the degree of collaboration varies from case to case, but some involve allegations at least as serious as those surrounding Wielgus.
The Polish church has long been aware that it’s sitting on a “time bomb” with regard to Communist-era collaborators, Pompowski said, but it avoided confronting these issues during the last years of Pope John Paul II’s papacy for fear of burdening the beloved Polish pope in his twilight.
Wielgus has insisted that he never caused anyone harm, and that he went along with the security forces largely so that he could pursue his academic career, believing that his capacity to travel internationally was important for the church during an age of enforced isolation from the outside world.
Neverthless, Wielgus has acknowledged that “the fact of my involvement has harmed the Church.”
Polish sources say the policy under both the late Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Warsaw and Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Cracow, later Pope John Paul II, was that any contact with the security forces should be avoided if at all possible, and immediately reported in writing to ecclesiastical superiors. Wojtyla, for example, insisted on having witnesses present for such meetings, even for the most delicate discussions.
In that sense, observers say, Wielgus went well beyond what was considered normal practice for clergy of the day.
It was not immediately clear what Wielgus’ future may hold, but Polish sources expect something similar to what happened in the case of Archbishop Julian Paetz, who resigned as the Archbishop of Poznan in March 2002 amid a sexual abuse scandal. Paetz today lives in an archdiocesan-owned apartment in Poznan and keeps a generally low profile.
The January 15 On-line
The January 15 On-line Journal of the Wall Street Journal has an article in there today called "Archbishop Grey" by Matthew Kaminiski. It makes the point about a kind of post-Communist McCarthyism in Poland.
The Archbishop lied, that
The Archbishop lied, that was his problem. Kind of a Bill Clinton "it depends on the meaning of is" kind of lie. All the Polish clergy were not heroes a la Glemp and Wotyla. What would you expect? This demonstrates the need for total openness and transparency in church affairs. What does it take to get people to understand that there can be no secrets?
I'm amazed by the number of
I'm amazed by the number of people who choose to denounce George Weigel for being a neo-con when it's absolutely irrelevant to what he's commenting on. What he knows and says about the Polish church has to stand on its own two feet. Having recently read works by Jolanta Babiuch and Jonathan Luxmore, authors of several books on the church in Central Europe (and whose expertise lies in matters Polish), I find what Weigel says dovetails with their analysis of basic issues. Having spent hours in conversation with one of the best sociologists of religion in post-communist Central Europe (the Hungarian, Miklos Tomka) and with a Bulgarian who teaches sociology and philosophy in the post-communist environment in Prague (Dr Parush R Parushev) and a Czech Catholic philosopher and parlimentarian who almost became president of the Czech Republic (Jon Sokol), what Weigel says tallies with their analysis of the reality of both civil and church life in Central Europe and the manifest ways in which living under a communist regime forced men and women into compromises that seemed reasonable at the time but that, in the light of a new day, take on a completely different aspect. I've lived and worked with members of a religious order who grew up and were trained in communist-era Poland. They told similar stories. A totalitarian regime had the power to rope you in and play you. Soon you're in over your head. Who knows how he or she would have reacted? John Allen serves us well by giving us a good take on a Polish story. Weigel could be right about Poland and wrong about Saddam having nuclear weapons. Were you never right about one thing and dead wrong about another? Do we have to drag this story into American political categories? Can't we first try to understand the Polish reality? In essence, the denouncers of Weigel are mirror images of the neo-cons who thought they could view Iraq through American lenses and make sound judgments about what they saw.
Don't the lies count
Don't the lies count anymore?
I ask the same thing 100 times a day.
Beloved John Paul betrayed
Beloved John Paul betrayed in a deep and brutal way?
NYTimes quoting a microfilmed document from a secret police agent praising Wielgus "for providing information on fellow priests" while Rzeczpospolita reporting Wieglus "interacted with police agents more than 50 times in one five-year period." Wielgus says in 1978 he signed up under pressure "from a brutal intelligence officer".
The Wieglus capitulation under pressure reminds us how powerful it truly was that John Paul refused surrender and subsequently led the charge to victory. All those years how did Wieglas face John Paul and still keep himself from confessing this horrible cowardly betrayal, especially as it was John Paul who picked Wieglus to be Bishop of Plock? Was this Simon Peter denying thrice before the cock crowed or was this just plain Judas?
Have we all become so callous concerning Cardinals lying that even as Wieglus was lying up to the last minute nobody seems concerned that such conduct might ipso facto eliminate anyone from cardinal to commoner as 'moral authority' material? Don't the lies count anymore?
Mr. Allen's account is unique amidst all the coverage on this in that he leaves the impression the almost cardinal simply signed up as a spy to get some student travel vouchers and that, of course, the traitor spy "never meant any harm." By reporting the polish church suppressed potential scandal "for fear of burdening the beloved Polish pope in his twilight", Mr Allen provides the first ever evidence recorded anywhere that John Paul ever, even once, was believed to feel that facing truth would be a burden.
Mr Allen's very thin coverage of this story is the first time in memory of his work that in going to him and hoping to find some real deal inside scoop on how the Vatican got boxed, blocked and run off the road, we find ourselves asking who now is Mr. Allen reporting to and for?
As for the loud accusations that those who brought truth to light are rapacious enemies trying to undermine the moral authority of the church...is moral authority violated in violation only when exposed and not in violation as long as it remains secret?
Isn't God supposed to be watching and does anybody notice that Jesus seems to have left the building?
Some future day, will John Paul be on hand to greet the traitor-spy-two-day-cardinal at St. Peter's gate and will Wieglus find the narrow gate grown too narrow to accept his rationalizations?
There are three kinds of lies generally told by humans: the lies we tell the others, the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we tell to God. The rest is rendered unto Caesar which in this case is both papal and polish secular politics. If the current Pope knew the guy was a spy, why did he think he could push things forward and not have trouble? More trouble is coming for sure and probably pretty quickly.
"If the current Pope knew
"If the current Pope knew the guy was a spy, why did he think he could push things forward and not have trouble?"
Maybe because he is the last of the WWII generation and there was never any Church purging of Nazi collaborators. What was good for Germany and Austria after WWII, must have been thought to be in play for post Communist Poland. It's too bad for the Vatican the press no longer plays by the same old deferential rules.
Thank you for such powerful
Thank you for such powerful analysis, kzak monk:
"As for the loud accusations that those who brought truth to light are rapacious enemies trying to undermine the moral authority of the church...is moral authority violated in violation only when exposed and not in violation as long as it remains secret?
Isn't God supposed to be watching and does anybody notice that Jesus seems to have left the building?"
These are questions I ask myself over and over.
Many ugly secrets lie buried in the bosom of the church, and it all too often seems that power trumps fidelity to the gospel, when decisions are made about who is to be given pastoral office. We see the church quickly crumbling in our lifetime, to the extent that those who hold the reins of power will not listen to any voice other than their own.
I share your frustration with Mr. Allen's coverage, and have asked myself for some time the question you ask--for whom is he reporting?
William D. Lindsey
Jaime I agree with Cookie.
Jaime
I agree with Cookie. My guess is that Wiegel eyes Communism as the ultimate evil and will therefore be most "resolved" against forgiving any Polish Archbishops and Bishops who even minimally cooperated with Communists.
Apparently the Communists that worked with Wielgus were not as virolently atheistic as we commonly understand their idiology; nor was the Bishop probably unaware that he could sooth his own conscience by useing the good old moral principle that talks about "mental reservation": Justifying a "political action" versus a "considered immorality"
I sometimes wonder if then Cardinal Pacelli didn't use the same moral principle to dance with the Nazi's at one time as Papal Legate to Germany before he became Pope Pius XII. Do we really know what that was really all about?
And how come we hung ol' Saddam and Jeered his death? I know he was a bad dude. But around the same time bad-boy Pinochet got a solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass sung at his Funeral, even as he dodged criminal trials for his atrocities against the Chileans......
Quien Sabe?????
Well, I'd say that depends
Well, I'd say that depends on who is doing the rating, God or man. I'm not sure that God would count truths that are not politically correct against the Pope. Maybe Wielgus would have made an excellent Archbishop... who are we to judge?
Margie12
George Weigel is as neo-con
George Weigel is as neo-con as they get. Before the Iraq War he said, "Only an idiot would suggest that Sadaam Hussein doen't have weapons of mass destruction." It is idiots 1, Weigel-Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld 0.
If the heirarchy in Poland is smart it will move to get all the information public as quickly as possible. If they they try to keep it covered up then Poland will undergo there what we have undergone here with the child sex abuse scandal, a drip-drip of details that continually scandalizes the faithful.
Steve
Isn't it about time that the
Isn't it about time that the priests choose their bishop? It's mainly their boss. A bit of democracy as with Saint Augustine. Those were the days. Tradition... tradition... (Tevje)
Or better still, the people
Or better still, the people choose their bishop. The Holy Spirit will take care of major mistakes. The church is not a democracy, but you'd think that the people of God might be invited to give more input.
Weigel is more nationalistic
Weigel is more nationalistic than he is Roman Catholic.
He has continually support the war in Iraq eventhough John Paul and Benedict have called the Iraq war illegal and immoral.
The Church's opposition to all wars is 'PRACTICALLY ABSOLUTE'.
Beware of Mr.Wiegel's positions .
His reputation is that of a
His reputation is that of a Rumsfeld, Cheney neocon. His work often endears him to the religious right.
Of course we know that papal
Of course we know that papal infallibility does not mean the Holy Father's pencil cannot have an eraser. I like to see this human side of ecclesiastical decision making.
It will be interesting to
It will be interesting to watch as writer and thinker George Weigel weighs in on this problem. He generally comes across as a very orthodox and unforgiving “hard liner” and it may be quite a problem for him to support Polish clergy who have appeared to collaborate with the Communist regime. In a sense, some may have decided to “go along: for the greater good of the church, as they saw it at the time. We could have a bit of McCarthyism on our hands here. A secondary issue is how does the Vatican choose bishops? Maybe the vetting process needs to be more open and transparent. Some argue for democratic elections of bishops. It has been done before.
According to the above NCR
According to the above NCR report, George Weigel seems to blame both insiders and outsiders.
"It has the responsibility to make a full public record using these materials in a responsible way," Weigel said in an interview with NCR this morning. "Otherwise, it will be open to media exaggerations and distortions, and perhaps international blackmail." By that, Weigel said he meant the manipulation of similar revelations by forces which have an interest in undermining the moral authority of the Polish Catholic church.
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Far less knowledgeable than Mr. Weigel in things Polish, I nevertheless posit that claiming too much authority undermines one's moral authority. Church officials must be subject to aggressive outside critique simply because as human authoritarian-types they try to keep their mistakes secret so their authority will not be diminished!
Joe McMahon
On the sunny side . . . yes,
On the sunny side . . . yes, the Holy Father will have to be very careful about the next appointment. But in general, doesn't he need to re-think the policy of making "a safe pair of hands" (men's hands!) the main qualification for leadership in the Church? Wouldn't it be good to have some adventurous and creative leadership for a change!
Englishwoman
Excellent point,
Excellent point, Englishwoman. And what an astonishing suggestion--adventurous and creative leadership, and in a church, no less! :-)
William D. Lindsey
So much for Papal
So much for Papal "infallibility"! What is this? The second or third boo-boo by the "Holy Father"?How many strikes does he get?
What interests me no end are
What interests me no end are George Weigel's hints at "international blackmail". He doesn't fill it in. I have recently had to conclude the European Union simply has become a dictatorship by a secular majority. Poland stands out as a country that has three things the boys in Brussels find unacceptable: the Poles are religious, they are patriots (nationalists in EU parl) and they are conservative. I'm just wondering how far they will go to re-shape the New Europe into the politically correct Radically Enlightened mold.
http://millennium-notes.blogspot.com/2007/01/impossible-made-possible-dictatorship.html