Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, Poland’s former Primate, died at 86 on August 20, 2025, at a Tarnów hospital after a prolonged illness.
Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk Passes Away
On the night of August 20, 2025, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, aged 86, passed away in a Tarnów hospital where he had been in critical condition for more than three weeks. The Archdiocese of Gniezno released an official statement confirming his death and announced that detailed information about the funeral will be released in the near future.
Biography
Kowalczyk was born on August 28, 1938 in Jadowniki Mokre near Tarnów. He entered the higher clergy seminary in Olsztyn in 1956 and was ordained a priest in 1962. That same year he became administrator of the Parish of the Holy Trinity in Kwidzyn. He studied canon law at the Pontifical University of January‑Thwart in Lublin and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, receiving a doctorate in canon law in 1968 and later the title of advocate of the Roman Rota. From 1978 to 2000 he chaired the Committee for the Publication of the Works of Karol Wojtyła before Wojtyła’s episcopal appointment. On 26 August 1989, Pope John Paul II appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Poland and installed him as Archbishop. On May 8, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named him Metropolitan Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland, a position he held until his retirement in May 2014.
Honors and Awards
In June 2010, Kowalczyk received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland for outstanding pastoral work and fostering cooperation between the Republic of Poland and the Holy See. The honor was presented by then‑President Bronisław Komorowski, who was acting as Speaker of the Sejm. He also received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Portugal. In 2002 he was awarded the Pro Piis Meritis Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs honored him with the Bene Merito Honorary Badge in 2009.
Source: Gazeta,
