Bishop Radoslaw Zmitrowicz,

O.M.I. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...

( uk, Радослав Змітрович; pl, Radosław Zmitrowicz; born 2 September 1962 in

Wrzeszcz Wrzeszcz (pronounced , german: Langfuhr; csb, Wrzészcz) is one of the boroughs of the Northern Poland, Polish city of Gdańsk. With a population of more than 65,000 in an area of (population density 6,622), Wrzeszcz is the most populous part o ...

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) is a Polish-born Ukrainian Roman Catholic prelate, who serves as an Auxiliary bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamianets-Podilskyi ( la, Dioecesis Camenecensis Latinorum) is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. Maksymilian Leonid Dubrawski O.F.M is the current bishop of the diocese. He was appo ...

and the Titular Bishop of Gypsaria since 21 October 2006.

Life

Bishop Zmitrowicz was born in the Roman-Catholic family in the suburb of

. After graduation from the school and lyceum education, he joined the

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...

in 1981; he made a solemn profession on May 21, 1987, and was ordained as

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on June 17, 1989, after graduation from the Major Missionary Oblates Theological Seminary in Obra, Poland, and Theological faculty of the

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań The Adam Mickiewicz University ( pl, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu; Latin: ''Universitas Studiorum Mickiewicziana Posnaniensis'') is a research university in Poznań, Poland. It traces its origins to 1611, when under the Royal Ch ...

. After his ordination he served in the different Missionary Oblates institutions in

from 1989 until 1997, when he was transferred to

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

in the newly created

Mission sui iuris of Turkmenistan The Roman Catholic Mission Sui Iuris of Turkmenistan is a Roman Catholic (Latin Church) Mission sui iuris (pre-diocesan jurisdiction) for the Catholics of Turkmenistan. It is exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See (not part of any ecclesias ...

. After 2000 he worked in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Fr. Zmitrowicz served in the Missionary Oblates parishes in

Chernihiv Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...

Slavutych Slavutych ( uk, Славу́тич) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, purpose-built for the evacuated personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 disaster that occurred near the city of Pripyat. Geographically l ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, until 2006, when he was appointed as a Superior of the Delegature of

in Ukraine. On November 29, 2012, he was appointed by the

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

as the Auxiliary Bishop of the

and

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 Gypsaria. On February 9, 2013, he was consecrated as bishop by Bishop

Leon Dubrawski Maximilian Leon Dubrawski ( uk, Максиміліан Леон Дубравський; born July 1, 1949) is the Roman Catholic bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi. Life Dubrawski was born near Zhytomyr, present day Ukraine. In 1978 he entered the se ...

and other prelates of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The bishop's diocese was largely unaffected by the direct impact of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, but saw a large influx of refugees, to whom the Church provided aid and humanitarian assistance. In an interview with

Aid to the Church in Need In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

, Bishop Zmitrowicz warned about the lasting effects of the conflict. "The worst consequences of the war will not be immediate, but will drag out. The psychological, spiritual, physical and humanitarian consequences, as well as those on the family, will probably be felt later. The healing is a process. We have started psychological services in one of our houses, and a priest takes part in this process. Only God can heal these deep wounds. Only God can answer the question of why are we suffering in this way." He told the organisation that the Catholic Church had already asked for help from international specialists on PTSD to prepare programmes to help soldiers and their families in the long-run.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zmitrowicz, Radoslaw 1962 births Living people Clergy from Gdańsk Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań alumni Polish expatriates in Ukraine 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ukraine