Poland trembled this month when the newly appointed Catholic archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, announced his resignation after revelations that he had collaborated with the Communist secret police. The Wielgus scandal seemed to portend a new era in the church’s lustration, or the purging of former secret police collaborators. So far, that has been a slow process, because Pope John Paul II guided the Polish church with principles of reconciliation and mercy rather than revenge. Only after his death did the files on the clergy begin to leak out.
Today in Poland, lustration has become a tool not only of revenge, but of politics.… Seguir leyendo »
In recent years, the rightwing Catholic twins who run Poland have advanced two articles of political faith: first, that the strength and moral integrity of the Polish nation is built upon the rock of the Polish Catholic church; and, second, that the weakness and corruption of Polish public life results from the failure to cleanse it of former collaborators with the communist regime. So what happens when the new Archbishop of Warsaw turns out to have signed a secret agreement in the 1970s to spy for the communists?
What happens is the scene, at once dramatic and grotesque, that unfolded in St John's Cathedral in Warsaw last Sunday.… Seguir leyendo »
Like so many other scandals, this one unfolded in a pattern at once familiar and depressing. First there was an unsubstantiated leak in a somewhat marginal weekly; then a denial. Then there were more substantial leaks in more mainstream media; then more denials. Then, all at once, there were behind-the-scenes maneuvers, interventions at high levels and, finally, at the last possible minute, a resignation.
But this scandal had a few twists: Instead of a politician, the authority figure in question was the newly appointed archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus. Instead of political hacks, the behind-the-scenes maneuvers featured Pope Benedict and high-ranking priests.… Seguir leyendo »
El nombramiento y posterior dimisión de monseñor Wielgus y la sensación que ha causado la confesión de su colaboración con los servicios secretos polacos, me han hecho pensar en dos anécdotas que me ocurrieron hace algunos años.
Era el mes de junio de 1988 y me encontraba en Moscú junto al cardenal Casaroli, con motivo de la celebración del Millennium cristiano de Rusia. Habían pasado sólo tres años desde que Gorbachov llegara al poder, Wojtyla y su perestroika aún no era más que una hipótesis. A las 16.30, recibí una llamada en la habitación del hotel Sovietskaya, donde me alojaba. Al principio la voz empezó a hablarme en ruso, pero después, ante mi petición de pasar al inglés, oí que me respondía: "¡Niet!".… Seguir leyendo »
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