Warsaw, Poland - A Polish priest denied Monday that he intentionally collaborated with communist authorities in the 1980s while close to Pope John Paul II's entourage, but he apologized to anyone he may have hurt.
Allegations that the Rev. Konrad Stanislaw Hejmo had been an informer for Poland's communist government were first brought by Poland's Institute for National Remembrance shortly after the Polish-born pontiff died in April.
``I was never a conscious denouncer, who would aim to harm individuals, my fellow convent brothers, the church hierarchy or the holy church,'' Hejmo wrote in a statement released by the Polish news agency PAP.
Hejmo acknowledged, however, that communist security agents gathered files on him that ``blew my role out of proportion.'' Authorities recently made the files available to the state-run institute.
The files wrongly suggest that ``my free conversations, letters, meetings for a cup of coffee, recordings of speeches, bureau analyses, could hurt anyone, primarily the church,'' Hejmo said.
``If someone feels harmed or injured by what I said ... with deep regret I apologize to all brothers in faith.''
The institute said last week after an investigation that Hejmo, who started his service at the Vatican in 1979, met secretly with communist agents from 1975 to 1988 in upscale restaurants and hotel rooms, giving them details about the church in return for money and gifts of liquor.
Hejmo has acknowledged sharing reports that he wrote for Polish church officials with a Pole who lived in Germany and said he received money from the man through other priests.
But he has insisted he did not suspect the man might have been a spy, describing their exchanges in Monday's statement as ``regular, normal sharing of views on current events'' between acquaintances.
The institute's report alleged that the priest, code-named ``Hejnal'' or ``Dominik,'' received $12,586 between 1981 and 1988, as well as cognac and other liqueurs.
Having his name crop up in a file does not indicate that he betrayed any secrets, but reflected his ``sometimes uncontrolled talkativeness and naive openness toward people,'' Hejmo said.
Hejmo was recently removed from his duties of caring for Polish pilgrims at the Vatican, but he remains in Rome.