April 28, 2005, 14:55 Society

Judas found in the Vatican

Vasily Sergeev A scandal is breaking out in the Vatican around one of the close associates of the late John Paul II. Convincing evidence was found that the priest was spying on the pontiff for Poland. The Holy Father calls the accusations absurd, but his reputation has already suffered greatly, both in the Vatican and in Poland.

Accusations of involvement of John Paul II's closest associate in espionage for the Holy See were first made at yesterday's press conference by the rector of the Institute of National Remembrance (INR) of Poland, Leon Kieres. He claims that in the 1980s a priest, a Pole of Dominican origin, Konrad Stanislaw Hezmo, actively spied on the pope. According to Kieres, the secret services of communist Poland assigned Father Conrad the status of "operational contact". The priest allegedly wrote reports to Polish agents, signing himself “Hejnal” and “Dominik”. It is curious that the historian considers the fact that Khezhmo used an agent pseudonym to be criminal. According to the scientist, the priest reported to Warsaw mainly about the support that the pontiff provided to the Polish democratic movement Solidarity.

Incriminating evidence on the 69-year-old priest was discovered several weeks ago by employees of the Polish Inspectorate.

As Rector Kieres explained, the documents compromising Hezmo are mainly his 700-page dossier, stored in the archives of the Polish intelligence services and declassified under the institute’s program for investigating crimes during the Nazi and communist regimes.

Rector Quieres refused to talk in more detail, promising that a book about espionage in the Holy See, prepared by employees of his institute, would be published in May. The other day he also mentioned a certain film in connection with the scandal. On it, a person from the entourage of John Paul II spoke about the pontiff to employees of the Polish secret services. Most likely, Kieres was talking then about the same Konrad Hezhmo.

Yesterday's press conference caused a great resonance both in the Vatican and in Poland. The compromised priest had to explain himself in order to save his damaged reputation. Yesterday Hezmo gave an interview to Polish television in which he called the accusations against him absurd. According to him, in the 80s he was responsible for organizing a pilgrimage to the Vatican for believers from Poland. Due to his duties, he had to have a lot of contact with Polish church officials and officials. Hezhmo does not rule out that among these people were Polish intelligence agents. But he categorically disagrees with the fact that he was recruited by Warsaw and subsequently spied on the Pope. In the interview, Hezmo also suggested that information about the Holy See could have gone to Warsaw due to his oversight. He admitted that he showed his letters to Polish priests to a certain acquaintance from Germany. According to Hezhmo, he did not think then that he was passing on important information to a spy.

The Holy See is in obvious confusion due to the scandal. The Vatican has taken a break and has not yet officially responded to the statements of Polish historians.

In private conversations, priests warn against hasty conclusions and judgments. According to Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, it is first necessary to find out to what extent Hezmo communicated with Polish agents and what information he passed on to them. If it turns out that the priest gave away Vatican secrets, then, according to the bishop, “it will be very regrettable.” Observers note in this regard that Hezmo, in any case, could not convey any valuable information to the Poles. The fact is, AR comments that the Dominican was not very close to Pope John Paul II, although formally he was part of his retinue. It was Hezmo, for example, who informed the press about the health of the pope in the days leading up to his death. But in fact, throughout his entire career (he began serving in the Vatican in 1979), the Dominican had only superficial information about the politics of the Holy See. As it now turns out, he could only tell a lot about dad’s schedule and movements.