Pope Benedict on Saturday named Kazimierz Nycz, a bishop with a spotless record, as archbishop of Warsaw to replace a prelate who resigned in disgrace after admitting he spied for the communist police.
Nycz, 57, has been bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, a city on the Baltic coast, since 2004 and is believed to be totally free of any links with the communist-era secret services in the homeland of the late Pope John Paul.
He replaces Stanislaw Wielgus, who resigned on January 7 during the mass at which he was to have been invested in his new office. The incident was a major embarrassment for the Vatican and the Polish Church.
On the day he resigned, Wielgus apologized for his actions and admitted he had hurt the Church.
Wielgus spied on his fellow clerics, many of whom fought against the communist government. During the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of citizens in East bloc countries reported on their neighbors and co-workers.
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