Solidarity protest at funeral of murdered parish priest

THE POLISH priest, Stefan Niedzielak, who died a violent and mysterious death last week (Catholic Herald, January 20), was buried on Thursday in Warsaw after a funeral Mass conducted by Cardinal Josef Glemp and attended by an estimated 8,000 mourners.
Friends and colleagues hailed the 74 year-old opposition priest's "patriotism", saying it led him to denounce crimes commited against thousands of Poles during the Stalinist era right up to his death. Scores of Second World Wat veterans holding Polish resistance flags stood among the congregation in St Charles Borremeo Church, where Fr Niedzielak was parish priest.
He was also chaplain of the wartime AK Polish resistance unit. Churchgoers found the bloody body of Fr Niedzielak in the presbytery after he had failed to turn up for Mass. Stickers pasted on lamp-posts outside the church read: "Infamy to the assassins of Fr Niedzielak".
After the funeral, hundreds of young people, singing and chanting "Solidarity", set off by foot to the neighbouring St Stanislas parish, where the murdered priest, Fr Jerzy Popieluszko is buried. Three members of the secret police killed him in 1985.
Early reports noted that Fr Niedzielak's injuries included a twisted spine, and that broken fingernails suggested he had put up a fight against his attackers, who were described by forensic doctors as having "great physical strength and a knowledge of fighting techniques".