Polish church rocked by second resignation

A SECOND prominent Catholic clergyman quit his post yesterday amid allegations he collaborated with Poland’s Communist-era secret police, a day after Warsaw’s new archbishop resigned after admitting he had cooperated with the despised agency.

The Rev Janusz Bielanski resigned as rector, or head priest, of Krakow’s prestigious Wawel Cathedral, the burial site of Polish kings and queens.

Bielanski has submitted his resignation to Krakow’s archbishop, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, “in connection with repeated allegations about his cooperation with the secret services” of the Communist era, said Robert Necek, a spokesman for Cardinal Dziwisz.