Germans critical of Vatican move

WEST GERMANS in public life, both in the Church and government, were almost universally critical of Pope Paul's action in placing former German dioceses in Western Poland under the Polish hierarchy.
Fr. Wilhelm Woeste, head of the secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, said in Bonn that he was "somewhat surprised" by the sudden announcement from the Vatican of the setting up of a Polish hierarchy in the so-called OderNeisse territories taken over by Poland at the end of World War Two.
Previous to the Vatican action, the dioceses in the former German territory were run by Polish bishops acting only as administrators. The Vatican's action had long been urged by Poland's communist regime as well as by the Polish bishops.
The Vatican was still obliged by its 1933 concordat with Germany to consult the Germans on any change in Church administration. such as has now taken place.
The West German-Polish agreement ratified by the West German parliament in May considered a major achievement in Chancellor Willy Brandt's policy toward eastern Europe declared that the Germans renounced any claims to pre-war German eastern territories.
Cardinal Julius Doepfner, of Munich, chairman of the German Bishops Conference. admitted he had received "very short" notice that the Vatican was taking such action.