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Priest's conduct 'unacceptable'

VATICAN CITY - A priest accused of spying for Poland's communist government while he was close to Pope John Paul II's entourage spoke too loosely about the inner workings of the Vatican but was not an informer, a Roman Catholic official investigating the allegations said Saturday.

The Rev. Maciej Zieba, who is head of the Dominican order in Poland, had harsh words for the Polish institute that made the accusations against the Rev. Konrad Stanislaw Hejmo, who also is Dominican, saying the accusations were made out of context.

Zieba flew to Rome to question Hejmo shortly after Poland's National Remembrance Institute, which guards communist-era police files, accused the priest of collaborating with Polish secret services when the nation was under communist rule.

In predominantly Roman Catholic Poland, where Pope John Paul was revered as a hero, the accusations against Hejmo stunned many.

The Polish-born Pope John Paul, elected in 1978, would have been of great interest to the communist secret police because of his role in inspiring the Solidarity trade union opposition to the communist government, which collapsed in 1989.

Throughout the late John Paul's papacy, Hejmo, a conspicuous figure in his white Dominican robes, was seen accompanying Polish pilgrims at the Vatican. He was close to the papal entourage, although not part of Pope John Paul's inner circle.

Hejmo, 69, has acknowledged sharing reports that he wrote for Polish church officials with an acquaintance, a Pole who lived in Germany, and said he received money from the man through other priests.

But he has insisted he did not suspect the man might have been a spy, and he denied being a secret agent, describing his actions as "naive."

Zieba said Saturday that Hejmo had "made a pact with the devil," calling the priest's conduct "serious business, unacceptable."

The information he provided "was too much information, too concrete. He was very open, too open" in discussing what he knew about the Vatican, Zieba said, adding that some of the information could have been useful to Polish authorities.

Hejmo would be disciplined for speaking too loosely about the Vatican, but he "wasn't a real collaborator, he wasn't a secret agent," Zieba told journalists at the edge of St. Peter's Square.

Hejmo has agreed to stop working with Polish pilgrims until a final report on the case is issued, likely by the end of the month, Zieba said. Separately, the Dominicans will decide on how to discipline Hejmo.

Reports in Poland have said Hejmo, who lives in a convent in an upscale Rome neighborhood, will be ordered back to his homeland to live in a Dominican cloister.

Zieba also had harsh words for the Polish institute for singling out Hejmo without laying out detailed or documentary evidence.

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI indicated Saturday he will stick to Pope John Paul II's unwavering stands against abortion and euthanasia, saying pontiffs must resist attempts to "water down" Roman Catholic teaching.

Pope Benedict outlined his vision of his papacy in a homily during a ceremony in which he took his place on a marble-and-mosaic throne in the ancient Roman basilica of St. John in Lateran. The ceremony is the last to formally mark Pope Benedict's assumption of the papacy.

[Last modified May 8, 2005, 00:46:16]