The Pope and the communists

How special services rescued the pontiff

The spiritual leader of all Catholics, Pope John Paul II, is, of course, an extraordinary person. With the Pope, the Catholic church recovered its authority and power. Many articles and books have been written about the pope, and now even a film is being shot about the pontiff's childhood and youth. The pope is an anti-communist, and they say the socialist camp would not have been ruined without his assistance. Regardng communists, last week, an official Polish news agency published a piece of information about a high clergyman who had spied on Catholic bishops, including the Krakow bishop Karol Woityla, the future pope John Paul II. The Polish Institute of National Memory, whose duty is to investigate secret archives of the communist epoch, confirmed that Karol Voytyla had been spied upon. However, the name of the priest, who already died, is being kept secret. A representative of the institute’s Krakow branch, Marek Lasota, said that the agent had occupied a key post in the Polish bishop conference and in the Krakow archdiocese. It is also known that he was ordained before WWII and was subjected by Nazi to repression. In 1948, communist special services recruited him by threatining to publish information about deeds he committed earlier in life. In 1948-1964, the priest regularly sent his reports to the special services, signing them with the name Zagelowski or Torano; in particular, he reported on Karol Woityla's activity. “He was not the only, but the most worthy, source of information. information,” – Marek Lasota says. The agent analysed sermons, speeches, and private letters of Archbishop Woityla, writing detailed reports. It is interesting that not one of these reports caused the secret services to accuse Krakow priests of anti-communist activity. In total, according to the Institute of National Memory, about 1,500 Catholic priests cooperated with special services.

I wonder why this document was published just after the head of the Vatican completed his trip to Poland? What could this mean?

Yegor Belous PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/31/46479.html