Over the past few weeks, controversy has grown over the archbishop-elect of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus (due to be installed on Sunday). John Allen summarizes:

Controversy surrounding the alleged collaboration of the archbishop-elect of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, with Poland’s Communist-era security forces deepened on Tuesday, with the publication of documents purporting to show that as early as 1973 Wielgus vowed to report on the activities of Polish priests abroad in exchange for permission to travel and other privileges.

Wielgus and other church officials, however, continue to insist that his contacts with the Communists amounted to little more than a bureaucratic formality, and that the then-professor of medieval philosophy never informed on anyone.

“At a very general level, such contacts had to be maintained. For example, if I wanted the authorities to allow me to go on a trip abroad, I could not possibly tell the agent who was harassing me to get lost,” Wielgus told the Polish press.

During the Communist era, any Pole wishing to travel abroad was required to meet with government officials beforehand and to surrender his or her identity card in exchange for a passport, which was valid only for that trip.

Wielgus said the only thing he was ever asked to do was to specify his agenda during foreign academic meetings, and to promise not to take part in anti-Communist activity.

That version of Wielgus’ past has been contradicted by some media reports.

Polish journalists asserted yesterday that documents obtained from Poland’s Institute of National Memory show Wielgus operated under the codename “Grey,” that he underwent special training for secret service agents, and even that at one point he attempted to infiltrate Radio Free Europe.

“He was one of the most important collaborators of the communist intelligence in the Church,” said Tomasz Sakiewicz, editor of the Gazeta Polska newspaper, on Polish radio.

Two separate commissions are now examining the files pertaining to Wielgus, one organized by Polish civic groups and another under the aegis of the Polish bishops’ conference. Wielgus himself asked the latter to look into the documents.

An article from the Radio Polonia website from last month – the Gazeta Polska publication which is levelling the charges is a right-wing publication.