WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The Vatican has reacted with relief after a Polish bishop laid down his office because of communist spy contacts.
On the day he was to be sworn in as archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus read out his resignation Sunday during a mass after it surfaced last week that Wielgus had worked for the Polish communist regime.
According to German online daily Netzeitung, Frederico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said Wielgus' resignation was an "adequate solution," as he had "gravely compromised his authority."
The resignation is one of the biggest crises to hit the Roman Catholic Church in recent years. Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Wielgus to Poland's highest religious office.
Wielgus' intelligence service file and his declaration of compliance with the communist secret police were published on the Internet. Large parts of the population had called on him to resign, while others were standing in the rain Sunday to show their backing of the 67-year-old. Wielgus denied having denounced any of his colleagues.
Observers say several clergymen during Poland's communist era had to cooperate with the secret police.
