POLAND: A Catholic priest in Poland, where the late Pope John Paul II championed resistance to communism, said yesterday that he had spied on dissidents and clerics for the communist secret services for 24 years.
Allegations against Michal Czajkowski, who is known for his work on Catholic-Jewish relations, were first published by a newspaper in May, but the priest had denied them until yesterday.
"I want to apologise and ask for forgiveness, especially for those whom I have hurt. There is no doubt about my guilt," Czajkowski said in a statement.
Czajkowski, an associate of John Paul, who was succeeded last year by Pope Benedict XVI, was a willing agent who reported on the pro-democracy activities of his fellow clerics, according to the National Remembrance Institute, which oversees communist-era files.
Czajkowski's past is an embarrassment for the Polish church, which is still coming to terms with the role it played under communism.
The church supported the pro-democracy Solidarity movement, but at the same time up to 10 per cent of its members may have been co-operating with the communist authorities, historians say. The church has refused to make public the names of clerics who co-operated with communist agencies.
John Paul's first visit as pope to Poland in 1979 drew millions on to the streets and inspired Poles to challenge their communist rulers. He was widely seen as a major influence behind the rise a year later of Solidarity, which won power in 1989 and helped to bring about the fall of communism in the entire Soviet bloc.