Sławoj Leszek Głódź (born 13 August 1945) is a Polish
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...
of the
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 ...
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.
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 tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...
in 1964, however due to the communist regime in Poland he had to interrupt his studies between 1966-1968, as the mandatory military service in clerical companies.
During his service he obtained the specialization of a
sapper
A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or 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 minefie ...
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
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin ( pl, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, la, Universitas Catholica Lublinensis Ioannis Pauli II, abbreviation KUL), established in 1918. It is the only private college in Poland with the s ...
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
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...
in 1984.
Bishop
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 ...
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 of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Warsaw from 1981 to 2006, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983.
Biography
Early life and ordination
Józef Glemp was ...
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 metropolit ...
from the Pope in Rome.
Lech Wałęsa 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 political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
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
''Tell No One'' (french: Ne le dis à personne) is a 2006 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. Written by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre and starring François Cluzet, the ...
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
Father Henryk Jankowski (18 December 1936, in Starogard Gdański – 12 July 2010, in Gdańsk) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, member of Solidarity movement and one of the priests supporting that movement in opposition to the communist governm ...
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
Lech Wałęsa, 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
The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the department of the Roman Curia that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require papal approval to take effect, but are usually followed. The Dic ...
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
Ecclesiastical passivity to Catholic sexual abuse cases