Assisi, Italy, Sep 6, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Pope John Paul II was spied on in the Vatican by priests who acted as informers for secret services in Warsaw and Moscow, said Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the primate of Poland, on Tuesday.

Speaking with ANSA at the inter-religious meeting in Assisi, Cardinal Glemp said the communist regime managed to enlist 15 percent of the nation's priests — some of them working at the Vatican — as spies. But the cardinal named only Polish priest Fr. Konrad Hejmo as an alleged Vatican spy.

The recent opening of secret police archives from the communist era have revealed that many highly respected people, including journalists, doctors, and priests, supplied information to secret services, reported ANSA.

Pope John Paul II’s pontificate was largely concerned with the fight against communism. As a result of his efforts, he has been credited with helping to bring about the collapse of communism in Europe. Communism collapsed in Poland in 1989.

An Italian government investigation concluded in March that the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II was the result of precise orders from the Politburo, the former central policy-making and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

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