Sławoj Leszek Głódź (born 13 August 1945) is a Polish

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who served as Archbishop of Gdańsk from 2008 to 2020. He has been a bishop since 1991 and before that spent a decade working in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

Early life and Priesthood

He was born in Bobrówka on 13 August 1945. He entered the major seminary of

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

in 1964, however due to the communist regime in Poland he had to interrupt his studies between 1966 and 1968, as the mandatory military service in clerical companies. During his service he obtained the specialization of a

sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

of Pontoons. He completed his priestly formation and was ordained a priest on 14 June 1970. Between He continued his studies on canon law at the Catholic University of Lublin and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, where he earned a doctorate in eastern canon law in 1980. From 1981 to 1991 he worked in Rome in the offices of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, where he received the dignity of a

in 1984.

Bishop

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him

titular bishop 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 Bettonium and the Bishop of the newly re-created Military Ordinary of Poland on 21 January 1991. He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal

Józef Glemp Józef Glemp (18 December 192923 January 2013) was a Polish Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was List of bishops and archbishops of Warsaw, Archbishop of Warsaw from 1981 to 2006, and was elevated to the cardinalate ...

on 23 February 1991 in the Jasna Góra Basilica in Częstochowa. On 18 April 1991 he was appointed to the rank of General of the Brigade, and on 11 November 1993 to the rank of

Divisional general Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

. During the office of the bishop, he reconstructed the diocesan structures of the Ordinariate, establishing a network of military parishes across Poland. He also established two new distinctions of the Ordinariate: in 1995 the diploma "Benemerenti" and in 2001 the medal "Milito pro Christo". On 17 July 2004, John Paul raised him to the personal rank of

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

(ad personam) and on 26 August appointed him Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Warszawa-Praga. On 17 April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named him Archbishop of Gdańsk. His ingress to the Archcathedral of the Holy Trinity in Gdańsk-Oliwa, during which he canonically took office, took place on 26 April 2008. On 29 June 2008 he received the metropolitan

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitan bish ...

from the Pope in Rome.

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

and others protested his appointment calling it a "punishment" for the city in light of his defense of an anti-Semitic radio station and his opposition to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. In 2013, the Polish weekly magazine Wprost published an article in which the accounts of anonymous people from the surroundings of the Archbishop were presented, accusing him of humiliation and intimidation of subordinates, mobbing and the organization of alcoholic libations.

Controversy

In May 2019, a documentary film called Tell No One about sexual abuse of minors committed by Polish priests became available on the internet and depicted Głódź as both indifferent to victims and praising a prominent priest accused as a sexual predator. Asked to comment on the film, he said: "I don't watch any old thing." He then issued a statement that said: "I did not intend to offend victims of sexual abuse with my words, and I am sorry." Some local clergy called for him to resign. In 2019, three protestors toppled a statue of Henryk Jankowski following revelations that he sexually abused Barbara Borowiecka when she was a girl. Jankowski, who in 2004 had been the subject of an inconclusive criminal investigation involving the sexual abuse of a boy, had been defrocked in 2005. He died in 2010 without ever being convicted of sex abuse. Personal chaplain to

, Rev. Franciszek Cybula, had been accused of committing acts of sex abuse as well.

Resignation

Pope Francis accepted Glodz's resignation as Archbishop of Gdańsk on his 75th birthday, 13 August 2020, after reports that he had covered up abuse committed by Jankowski and Cybula. Because of the timing, the move was described as "cleaning house". Glodz had also presided at Cybula's funeral.https://www.wral.com/pope-cleans-house-in-poland-after-abuse-cover-up-scandal/19233772/ On 2 June 2020, the Congregation for Bishops ordered Kazimierz Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw, to conduct an investigation; it was concluded by 5 November 2020. In March 2021, Glodz was sanctioned by the Vatican and ordered to live outside his former diocese, and told he could not participate in public liturgies or non-religious gatherings within the territory of the diocese.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź
{{DEFAULTSORT:Głódź, Sławoj Leszek 1945 births Living people People from Mońki County 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Poland Bishops of Gdańsk John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin alumni Pontifical Oriental Institute alumni