The Burden of the Past

Poland's Catholic Church, the former bastion against the totalitarian, communist dictatorship, has been thrown into a deep crisis because of this case: One of her highest dignitaries, who was nearly consecrated as primate on Sunday, has obviously collaborated with the former communist secret police.

Archbishop Stanslaw Wielgus stepped down immediately before taking office, giving up the designated post as Poland's highest-ranking cleric after weeks of public pressure and new revelations. He deserves respect and acknowledgement for doing so. A Primate Stanislaw Wielgus would have harmed the credibility of the Roman church and would have become a serious burden.

He would have been compared with the former Primate Stefan Wyszynski, who was jailed by communists for years; Wielgus would have been compared to Pope John Paul II, who always stood up to the totalitarian dictatorship with courage. Considering this, Wielgus did the right thing -- even if he took his time.

What's known so far shows that Wielgus never was a secret police agent within the church, but -- rather -- a cleric, who was forced to cooperate with the secret police. No one should use this case to reinterpret historical facts: The churches in Eastern Europe where victims, not perpetrators, during the Cold War. That's true for Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches.

In the Stalinist Soviet Union alone, hundreds of thousands of pastors, bishops, monks, nuns and simple church members were murdered, jailed and tortured simply because of their faith. KGB members were the so-called executive organs during the largest persecution of churches in history. It's understandable that church representatives in the former eastern bloc gave in to the pressure of secret police until 1991. Only a few are born to be heroes.

By now, communism is history and churches look to the future. They have a future. They have an important, ethical role in building a democratic civil society. They could -- and should -- be a moral compass for all those, who are looking for spiritual orientation following the fall of socialism.

The churches will only meet this challenge, if they apply the highest moral standards for themselves. To put it bluntly: Anyone, who -- like Archbishop Wielgus -- has obviously cooperated with the secret police, must not occupy a higher office in church hierarchy.

For the new EU members Bulgaria and Romania, that also means that bishops, who will soon choose the respective patriarchs, should pick someone, who comes with a clean background. The same is true for other countries in eastern and southeastern Europe, such as Serbia.

In Russia, an increasing number of top positions in state and society are filled with former secret service members. Instead of being ashamed of their dark past, they flaunt it and cozy up to the church in front of TV cameras. Jesus Christ already warned about the wolf in sheep's clothing. The bishops in Moscow shouldn't forget the words of this good shepherd.

Miodrag Soric is DW-RADIO's editor-in-chief (win).