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BRUSSELS - The Archbishop of Warsaw has resigned less than an hour before a special mass marking his inauguration after revelations that he co-operated with the Communist-era secret police plunged Poland's powerful Roman Catholic church into crisis.
Stanislaw Wielgus appeared to fight back the tears as he made
his dramatic announcement in Warsaw cathedral ending a scandal that has divided the country, embarrassed the Vatican and dealt a blow to the country's highly influential church.
Earlier the Archbishop had denied that he was a spy but admitted that he had agreed to communicate with the secret police because he feared that refusal to do so would have threatened his academic studies.
The actions had, he conceded, failed to show "decent prudence, courage and determination".
The row has re-opened wounds from the years of struggle against Poland's Communist regime.
While the Catholic Church was a source of support for the Solidarity democracy campaigners, some historians estimate that around one in ten members of the clergy collaborated with the government of the time.
Yesterday the Archbishop bowed to growing anger among the general public and stood down minutes before his elaborate inauguration ceremony.
Shaking visibly, the 67-year-old Archbishop said: "I place my resignation from the post of metropolitan archbishop of Warsaw in Your Holiness's hands." While his announcement was greeted by applause, some among the congregation in Warsaw Cathedral shouted "no" and "stay with us." Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation, according to a statement half an hour earlier from the Vatican's mission in Poland.
The Vatican has asked Cardinal Jozef Glemp, Archbishop Wielgus' predecessor, to return to his post temporarily.
The ceremony, attended by the Polish president, was rapidly converted into a service in honour of Cardinal Glemp who defended the resigning Archbishop.
Cardinal Glemp said: "Today, a trial of Archbishop Wielgus took place. What kind of trial was it? Based on bits of papers, copies of copies of some documents. We don't want such trials."
Nevertheless the unprecedented departure seems to have been forced by pressure from the public and from politicians.
More than half of Poles were against Archbishop Wielgus's nomination after learning about his collaboration with the secret service, according to a survey of 1,024 Poles conducted for TVN.
Moreover the scandal has coincided with a renewed push by the right-wing government led by the Law and Justice party to purge from public office those deemed to have co-operated with the Communist authorities.
President Lech Kaczynski, attending the cathedral ceremony, applauded after Archbiship Wielgus announced his resignation.
The president and his twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have campaigned for the moral regeneration of Poland and called for those who cooperated with the Communists to be on rooted out of national life.
Andrzej Paczkowski, a Polish historian who was asked by the nation's human rights ombudsman to investigate allegations that Archbishop Wielgus was a spy, said last week that there was evidence he did have such a role in the 1970s.
Poland's Catholic Church Historical Commission also said that the Archbishop had co-operated with the secret services prior to the collapse of communism.
In a statement last month the Vatican said it took into account "all of the circumstances" of Archbishop Wielgus's "life, including those regarding his past" when it appointed him to his new post.
The Pope made no comment on the resignation when addressing Polish pilgrims in their language during his speech from a balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square in Rome.
A spokesman for the Polish episcopate said the legal basis for the resignation was a part of church law requiring a bishop to resign if he is "unable to properly exercise his office [and therefore] is strongly requested to submit his resignation".
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