WARSAW (Reuters) — The newly appointed Archbishop of Warsaw admitted yesterday he had worked with the communist-era secret services, upping pressure on him to resign in a row which has embarrassed the church in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland.In a statement issued late yesterday, Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, appointed by the Pope on December 6, appeared to back down from earlier denials in the row and to open the door for the Pope to remove him from office.

“By the fact of this entanglement I have damaged the church ... I will respect any decision the Pope makes,” Wielgus said in a statement on the church’s Web site that is to be read to churchgoers today.

“I damaged the church again when in recent days, amid a hot media campaign, I denied the facts of this cooperation.”

Poland’s Roman Catholic Church earlier yesterday acknowledged that Wielgus had spied for the communist-era secret services, increasing the pressure on the archbishop ahead of his ceremonial appointment on Sunday.

Wielgus was named by Pope Benedict to succeed the retiring Cardinal Jozef Glemp, a figurehead of the long struggle against communism, in one of the most influential positions in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland’s church hierarchy.

Soon after his appointment, Polish media reported that he had informed on fellow clerics for around 20 years from the late 1960s.

Wielgus maintained in Friday’s statement that he “did not report on anyone nor deliberately try to hurt anyone”.

But a special Church commission said in a statement there was sufficient evidence to confirm he was a willing informer.

“There are plenty of important documents which confirm Wielgus’ willingness to ... cooperate,” the commission said.