[QODLink]
Europe
Pope replaces spy row archbishop
Kazimierz Nycz replaces Stanislaw Wielgus who spied for Poland's communist police.
Last Modified: 03 Mar 2007 12:45 GMT
Stanislav Wielgus stood down after revelations he co-operated with communist-era police [AFP]
Pope Benedict XVI has named Kazimierz Nycz as the new archbishop of Warsaw, replacing Stanislaw Wielgus, who resigned after admitting he spied for Poland's communist-era police.
 
"The Holy Father has named Kazimierz Nycz as Archbishop of Warsaw, until now the bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg," the Vatican said in a statement on Saturday.
Wielgus stepped down at what was supposed to be his formal investiture at Warsaw Cathedral on January 7, after admitting he spied on his fellow clerics, many of whom fought against the Soviet-led regime.
Church 'hurt'
 
During the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of citizens in communist countries reported on their neighbours and co-workers.
 
When he resigned, he apologised for his actions and admitted he had hurt the Catholic Church.
 
Last month, a judge ruled that Wielgus will have a chance to clear his name after he asked a special vetting court to accept his case, saying secret agents had blackmailed and harassed him into co-operating.
 
Wielgus follows a string of government officials who have turned to the court to clear their names since Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish prime minister, launched a crusade to remove former communists and collaborators from public life.
 
Cardinal Jozef Glemp, who Wielgus was to have replaced, was returned to the position of archbishop until Nycz was named as his replacement.
Source:
Agencies
Topics in this article
People
Country
Featured on Al Jazeera
In the frozen peaks of Afghanistan's Kunar province, a ferocious clash for supremacy rages amid the mountaintops.
Indigenous community with "third world conditions" sits 90km from diamond mine, prompting fight for resource royalties.
There is a unique and dangerous commerce system at work in Amazonia, where children risk their lives for a few pennies.
Organisations that influence social, cultural and political issues in the US have been hijacked by the far right.
<  > 
join our mailing list

Enter Zip Code
Go