Special historical commissions have already been set up in over half of 41 Polish dioceses. The remaining dioceses are to follow suit soon.

The decision to establish such investigating commissions was taken by the Council of Polish Bishops during its extraordinary session on January 12. It was connected with the crisis in the Polish church following the resignation of archbishop Stanisław Wielgus from the post of the metropolitan of Warsaw. The aim of those bodies is to scientifically investigate the issue of alleged cooperation of the Polish clergy with the Secret Services - Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa - in the period from 1944 to 1989.

It was in October of last year that the Polish Episcopate established its Historical Commission to examine the issue of alleged cooperation of several clergymen with secret services under the communist regime. The commission was composed of lawyers and historians of the church. Recently the Commission investigated the files of archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus archived in the Institute of National Remembrance.