I am just back from Poland. Obviously this was major news in the Polish
press.
The politics of the resignation is rather interesting. The witch hunt for
informers had died down for a number of years but the current
highly-reactionary regime has revived it. As the exposure of the
background of this bishop - to become archbishop - developed over time,
initially the Vatican supported the appointment. But as the evidence
became more convincing the government would have been in an embarrassing
position to keep him as archbishop while continuing witch-hunts for others.
So, my supposition is that the government pressured the Pope to get him to
resign so that they can continue finding witches.
By the way, the people at the mass did NOT know that a resignation was
going to take place and were startled, to say the least. Seems they
opposed what was happened, judging by the character of the audience
response.
It is quite likely that U.S. bishops are also informers within the U.S.
But it's different because Americans don't feel that our regime has been
imposed from above, unlike the Poles who do feel so about the Soviet era.
Thus, the context is distinct.
For what it is worth, after traveling three weeks in Poland, I found only
ridicule of the current Polish government, whether by intellectuals or by
workers (I have personal connections to both).
Paul
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Volume 23 (2006), RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, P.Zarembka, ed., Elsevier
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Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 22:32:55 -0800
From: Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Polish archbishop quits over communist links
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He quit over supplying information to the secret police. US bishops =20
cooperate routinely with police agencies and no one objects.
On Jan 7, 2007, at 10:26 PM, soula avramidis wrote:
Do they quit over child abuse or is it just communism which is worst?
Polish archbishop quits over communist links
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw
Published: January 7 2007 17:37 | Last updated: January 7 2007 18:04
Less than two days after becoming archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw =20
Wielgus on Sunday resigned at the request of the Vatican following =20
revelations that he had agreed in the 1970s to co-operate with =20
Poland=92s communist-era secret police.
The resignation came during a ceremonial mass that had been planned =20=
to welcome the archbishop.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/cea4535a-9e72-11db-ac03-0000779e2340.html
