Thursday, April 28, 2005

Polish church surprised by communist spy scandal in Vatican
2005-04-28, 18:28
The Episcopate of Poland's Roman-Catholic church has issued a statement on the communist related spying scandal around Pope John Paul II.

It expresses surprise and sorrow over the facts, but at the same time underscores the importance of further and thorough study of the revealed case. A Polish Dominican working for Radio Vatican in the ‘Seventies and the main guardian of Polish pilgrims arriving in Rome with direct access to the late pontiff has been identified by the Institute of National Remembrance as an agent working for communist intelligence for almost two decades in the pope’s immediate circles and receiving gratification for his services.

Yesterday, Dominican was recalled back to Poland by his superiors, however he failed to arrive as expected. Instead, the order’s principal father Andrzej Zieba is to meet him in Rome. Dominican, on his part, said he feels disappointed with the manner in which the National Remembrance Institute has handled the case in revealing it to the media without prior contact with him. He admitted to passing information to a person whom he perceived as a representative of the German Episcopate at the time, being unaware of his true role.
Link