WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Warsaw's new archbishop abruptly resigned Sunday over revelations that he cooperated with Poland's communist-era secret police, stunning worshippers by sadly yielding the archbishop's throne just minutes before he was to be formally installed.
To cries of ``No, no!'' and ``Stay with us!'' in and outside St. John's Cathedral, a despondent Stanislaw Wielgus read from a letter to Pope Benedict XVI in which he offered his resignation ``after reflecting deeply and assessing my personal situation.''
The Vatican said Wielgus' past actions had ``gravely compromised his authority'' as one of the top church officials in the late Pope John Paul II's deeply Roman Catholic homeland, adding that the 67-year-old priest was right to go ``despite his humble and moving request for forgiveness.''
| Correct decision. He can be forgiven but he can't be trusted ever again. |
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