MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Poland’s Catholic Church is mulling plans for taking over the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lvov, Ukraine, the press office of Russia’s foreign intelligence, the SVR, said on Wednesday.

"There is evidence that the Polish Bishops’ Conference - the central organ of the Catholic Church in Poland - is discussing in earnest the question of taking over the Lvov Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine," the SVR said. Russian intelligence explained that in practical terms this will imply "editing" the provisions of the 1993 Concordat between the Holy See and Warsaw, which the Polish parliament ratified in 1998. In particular, there are plans for amending article 6 of the Concordat, which states clearly that "no diocese with a seat in the Republic of Poland shall extend beyond the borders of the Polish State," and "a bishop who is not a Polish citizen shall not belong to the Polish Bishops’ Conference, nor shall he exercise jurisdiction within the Republic of Poland, unless exceptionally decreed by legates or other envoys of the Pope."

"There are plans for granting the Lvov Archdiocese a seat on the Polish Bishops’ Conference," the SVR said.

SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin is quoted as saying that "according to the available information, the Polish authorities are systematically pushing ahead with plans for taking over Ukraine’s western regions."

"Poland’s moves are becoming ever more perceptible not just in the corridors of Ukrainian government institutions, but within church walls, too," he said.

The SVR added that according to the available information it is of fundamental importance to the Polish authorities and clergy to remove from the Concordat even the slightest hints at Poland’s recognition of the borders in the East that were established after World War II. These borderlines, if Warsaw is to be believed, were drawn "unfairly" and may serve as an obstacle to the return of "historically Polish lands to the fold of the Mother Church."

"The Polish Bishops’ Conference expects that the Roman Curia will support this variant of ecclesiastical 'integration' - in fact, annexation. It remains to be hoped that sensible forces in the Vatican will not want to participate in this lawlessness," the SVR concluded.