Józef Kowalczyk (; born 28 August 1938) is a Polish

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

prelate,

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

yer and diplomat who, from 1989 to 2010, served as the first

apostolic nuncio to Poland The Apostolic Nuncio to Poland is one of the oldest nuncios, appointed by the Pope as apostolic representative to the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. Three nuncios to Poland went on to be elected pope. Three were cardinals at the time of their ...

since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He later served as archbishop of Gniezno and

primate of Poland This is a list of archbishops of the Archdiocese of Gniezno, who are simultaneously primates of Poland since 1418.Jadowniki Mokre near

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarn� ...

. In 1956 he began to study at the Seminary of

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

, a successor institution of the

Collegium Hosianum The Collegium Hosianum was the Jesuit collegium founded in 1565, 1566 by Polish Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius in Braunsberg (Braniewo), Kingdom of Poland. The town was then part of the Polish Prince-Bishopric of Warmia under rule of Cardinal Hos ...

. He was ordained priest by auxiliary bishop Józef Drzazga on 14 January 1962 and nominated

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

at the parish of the Holy Trinity in

Kwidzyn Kwidzyn (pronounced ; german: Marienwerder; Latin: ''Quedin''; Old Prussian: ''Kwēdina'') is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa River, with 38,553 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Kwidzyn County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Geogra ...

shortly thereafter. In October 1963, he began his training in

at the Catholic University of Lublin and moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to continue his studies at the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

in February 1965. He earned his doctorate in canon law in 1968 and a diploma of advocate of the

Roman Rota The Roman Rota, formally the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota ( la, Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae), and anciently the Apostolic Court of Audience, is the highest appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church, with respect to both Latin-r ...

in 1971. He also received a diploma of archivist of the

Vatican Secret Archives The Vatican Apostolic Archive ( la, Archivum Apostolicum Vaticanum; it, Archivio Apostolico Vaticano), formerly known as the Vatican Secret Archive, is the central repository in the Vatican City of all acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pont ...

. On 19 December 1969, Kowalczyk began to work at the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

. In the years 1976–1978, he accompanied the nuncio for special assignments, Archbishop

Luigi Poggi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo' ...

, on trips to the People's Republic of Poland. On 18 October 1978, two days after Cardinal Karol Wojtyła became

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, Kowalczyk was asked to set up a Polish section of the

Vatican Secretariat of State The Secretariat of State (Latin: ''Secretaria Status''; Italian: ''Segreteria di Stato'') is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State ...

. He went on as the head of this section until 1989. In this capacity, he often accompanied the pope in his foreign visits. Kowalczyk was additionally charged with the task of overseeing the translation and publication of works written by Wojtyła before his accession to papacy. According to the daily ''

Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...

'', documents held by the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

indicate that, from 1982 until 1990, Kowalczyk was registered by the Polish Communist secret police (''

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

'') as a source of information under codename "Cappino". It is uncertain whether Kowalczyk knew to have been registered or that he agreed to it.

Nuncio to Poland

Following Solidarity's victory in the parliamentary election in June 1989, Poland resumed diplomatic relations with the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

on 17 July 1989. On 26 August 1989, Pope John Paul II nominated Kowalczyk as the first post-war

. The pope consecrated him as

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Heraclea in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

on 20 October 1989. Kowalczyk chose the words ''Fiat Voluntas Tua'' ("Thy will be done", quote from the ''

Pater Noster The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

'') as his episcopal motto; his episcopal coat of arms is charged with a cross, a pastoral staff, a star symbolizing the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

, and a plough symbolizing Kowalczyk's rural origin. The nuncio arrived in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

on 23 November 1989 and presented his

letter of credence A letter of credence (french: Lettre de créance) is a formal diplomatic letter that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state. Commonly known as diplomatic credentials, the letter is addressed from one head of state to anot ...

to President

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military officer, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party b ...

on 6 December 1989. Jozef Kowalczyk

As nuncio, Kowalczyk presided over the reëstablishment of the

military ordinariate A military ordinariate is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, of the Latin or an Eastern church, responsible for the pastoral care of Catholics serving in the armed forces of a nation. Until 1986, they were called "military ...

of Poland in 1991. Together with the Conference of Polish Bishops, he worked on a thorough reorganization of the administrative structure of the Catholic Church in Poland. This task resulted in the papal bull '' Totus Tuus Poloniae populus'' of 1992, which erected 13 new dioceses, elevated eight dioceses to archdioceses, and adjusted ecclesiastical borders to match the post-war borders of Poland. The nuncio also negotiated with Polish authorities the text of the concordat which was signed on 28 July 1993 and ratified by Poland in 1998. The concordat, in which the Republic of Poland agreed, among other things, to recognize the

legal person In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...

ality of the Catholic Church and legal validity of church marriages, became a model for other

concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Edi ...

s in Europe and for regulations on Poland's relations with other denominations. Kowalczyk was also responsible for preparing John Paul II's and Benedict XVI's papal visits to Poland in 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002, and 2006. By tradition, Kowalczyk – in his capacity as the apostolic nuncio – acted as dean of the

diplomatic corps The diplomatic corps (french: corps diplomatique) is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body. The diplomatic corps may, in certain contexts, refer to the collection of accredited heads of mission ( ...

in Poland. Although formally he was not part of the Conference of Polish Bishops, he played an important advisory role. His job was also to propose candidates for episcopal appointments to the Holy See; during his 21-year-long nunciature – the longest ever in a single country – Kowalczyk had a considerable influence on the composition of the Catholic episcopate in Poland.

Primate of Poland

On 8 May 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of retiring Archbishop Henryk Muszyński and nominated Kowalczyk as the new archbishop of Gniezno and

primate of Poland This is a list of archbishops of the Archdiocese of Gniezno, who are simultaneously primates of Poland since 1418.Gniezno Cathedral The Royal Gniezno Cathedral (The Primatial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Shrine of St. Adalbert, pl, Bazylika Archikatedralna Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny i Sanktuarium św. Wojciecha) is a Bri ...

on 26 June 2010. The primatial title, which is traditionally held by the head of the oldest archbishopric in Poland, no longer carries significant power in national or church structures, but remains a prestigious honorific post. On 17 May 2014, Kowalczyk retired as

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

accepted his resignation from the archiepiscopal see of Gniezno and appointed Archbishop

Wojciech Polak Wojciech Polak (born 19 December 1964) is the Roman Catholic archbishop of Gniezno, Poland, since his appointment on 17 May 2014. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of Gniezno. Biography Early life Polak was born in 1964 in Inowrocł ...

as his successor. , -

References

External links

* * *
Virtual tour Gniezno Cathedral List of Primates of Poland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalczyk, Jozef 1938 births 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Poland Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Apostolic Nuncios to Poland Archbishops of Gniezno Living people People from Tarnów County Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany