WARSAW, Poland—Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the head of Poland's influential Roman Catholic church from 1981 to 2004—a time when it played a historic role in the fight against communism—has died at the age of 83.




A key moment for Glemp as church leader came in 1981, when communist authorities imposed the harsh crackdown know as martial law on the nation, aiming to crush Solidarity.

Some democracy activists at the time faulted Glemp for failing to confront the regime forcefully at that time, but he has explained any conciliatory gestures were meant to try to prevent a blood bath in the nation.