Bratislava, Slovakia - Slovakia's Roman Catholic Archbishop Jan Sokol, listed as an agent of the former communist secret police, sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, assuring him he never damaged the church, the country's bishops said Wednesday.
Although Sokol is listed as an agent of the STB secret police, he has always denied he really was.
Slovakia's Bishops' Conference issued a statement saying Sokol sent a letter to the pope, telling him about what he called "more and more intense attacks against him in media that label him as a collaborator with the STB."
"He assured the Holy Father that he never damaged the church to which he always was and will remain faithful," the bishops' statement said.
The bishops also said they had "no reason to distrust" Sokol.
They said Sokol never gave sensitive information to the secret police; that on the contrary, he engaged in activities considered "hostile to the state."
Last month, however, the Roman Catholic Church in Slovakia said it would create a council to "search for a correct answer" to its role during World War II and the following the communist era.
Sokol also came under strong criticism in January for describing the country's wartime rule by pro-Nazi priest Jozef Tiso as a time of well-being. Some 70,000 Slovak Jews and thousands of Gypsies were deported from Slovakia during World War II, most of them perishing in Nazi concentration camps.