Declarations from Rome on the Church in Poland after the resignation of Archbishop Wielgus

Following the resignation of Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus of the See of Warsaw, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Holy See, declared on January 10, to Radio Vatican : The Polish Church has remained faithful, in spite of this time of uncertainty and “compromise” of which she is a victim. She is a “living Church, a courageous Church, at the heart of a nation which had suffered under regimes which had martyred her, traces of which can still be seen today. Two days later, the Cardinal declared himself “pleased with the decision to carry out investigations of all the bishops and their past”, a decision taken by the Polish bishops at an extraordinary assembly in Warsaw on January 12. And he added: “Lack of communication is detrimental in all domains and can even be deadly. It does not allow us to discern correctly especially on the authenticity or the falsification of documents”. “We need to exercise discernment on the authentic or invented character of this documentation, and the unacceptable strategies of destabilization, no matter which camp they issue from. I would be happy if this close examination- and I have already made this known to the authorities concerned- could be applied to officials of political parties and public administration, to civil servants who have political roles in Polish society and to those of other Eastern European countries”. What is more, it is “astounding that journalists and academics gained access to secret communist archives before those who had a sacrosanct right to them.”

 On January 9, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow, declared that the Church had shown herself “courageous and wise”, without however, “condemning archbishop Wielgus”, concerning whom there is no evidence that he ever harmed anyone. But “it was impossible to work”, “in a situation which had been made objectively very difficult”.

 During his audience on Wednesday January 10, Benedict XVI addressed the faithful from Poland in their mother tongue: “St. Stephen, deacon and the first martyr of the Church, sets an example of faith, of loving service to his brothers and of courage to bear witness to Christ. Faith, love and wisdom unite all believers in Poland. May God bless you!” And during the Angelus on Sunday January 14, he added : “I cordially greet all the Polish pilgrims. Let us pray today for migrants and refugees. During the Mass, we recall the miracle of Jesus in Cana, and Mary’s words: Do whatever He tells you (Luke 2: v) May her words be an encouragement to the families of migrants, refugees and to us all, especially during the most difficult moments of our lives, when we seek the Truth and the help of God.”