Report calls on priests to confess to collaborating with Communists.Warsaw (ENI)--Poland's Roman Catholic bishops have published a report about their church's infiltration infiltration /in·fil·tra·tion/ (in?fil-tra´shun) 1. the pathological diffusion or accumulation in a tissue or cells of substances not normal to it or in amounts in excess of the normal. 2. infiltrate (2). by the secret police under communist rule, calling on priests who were informers to confess confess v. in criminal law, to voluntarily state that one is guilty of a criminal offense. This admission may be made to a law enforcement officer or in court either prior to or upon arrest, or after the person is charged with a specific crime. their guilt but also warning against "condemnation and revenge." "Collaborating with the church's enemies is a public sin," said the Warsaw-based Bishops Conference. "We do not, however, intend to condemn To adjudge or find guilty of a crime and sentence. To declare a building or ship unsafe for use or occupancy. To decide that a navigable vessel is a prize or is unfit for service. or name anyone, only to recall principles which are binding always and everywhere on everyone who believes in Christ and belongs to his church." Meanwhile, in Romania, another European nation subject to communist rule after the Second World War, President Traian Basescu said he would support the opening of secret police files on his country's Orthodox clergy. This followed calls by the government minister for culture and religious affairs, Adrian Iorgulescu, for the public naming of collaborators from the church. A spokesperson for the Romanian Orthodox Church's Bucharest patriarchate pa·tri·ar·chate n. 1. The territory, rule, or rank of a patriarch. 2. See patriarchy. patriarchate Noun the office, jurisdiction or residence of a patriarch Noun told the Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) French cooperative news agency. Based in Paris, it has roots in the Bureau Havas, created in 1832, which in 1835 became the Agence Havas, the world's first true news agency. news agency his church had already admitted its infiltration by communist agents and was not against "the opening of archives dealing with priests." The 3,000-word Polish report noted that a clear majority of Catholic clergy had proved "worthy servants of Christ," in some cases paying with their lives under communist rule, which lasted in Poland from 1947 to 1989. Presenting the report, the Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, former personal secretary to Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II) born Karol Józef Wojtyła , said he believed it would be better if incriminated priests also resigned their posts and retired from public life. |
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