Wiesław Śmigiel (born 3 January 1969) is the incumbent Roman Catholic metropolitan archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Toruń from 2017 to 2024 and as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Pelplin from 2012 to 2017.

Biography

Śmigiel was born in

Świecie Świecie (; ) is a town in northern Poland with 24,841 inhabitants (2023), capital of Świecie County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is located within the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in the historic region of Pomerania. Founded ...

and was ordained a priest on 29 May 1994. He received a doctorate from the

John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (, , abbreviation KUL) is a university established in 1918. History :pl:Idzi Radziszewski, Father Idzi Benedykt Radziszewski founded the university in 1918. Vladimir Lenin, Lenin allowed the priest ...

in 2003 and a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 2010. On 24 March 2012, Pope

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

appointed Śmigiel as auxiliary bishop of

Pelplin Pelplin () is a town in northern Poland, in the Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Population: 8,320 (2009). Pelplin is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in Pomerania. It is home to one of the finest collections of medieval art ...

and titular bishop of Beatia; he was consecrated on 21 April 2012 in the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption by

Sławoj Leszek Głódź Sławoj Leszek Głódź (born 13 August 1945) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church 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 l ...

, with assistance from Henryk Muszyński and

Andrzej Suski Andrzej Wojciech Suski (born 24 December 1941) is a retired Polish Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń, Toruń from 1992 to 2017. Prior to that, he was Auxiliary Bishop o ...

. On 11 December 2017, he was appointed Bishop of Toruń. He was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Bydgoszcz in 2021, and additionally apostolic administrator of the

Diocese of Płock In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

in 2022. On 13 September 2024, Śmigiel was appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

as metropolitan archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień. He was installed as archbishop on 26 October 2024 at

Szczecin Cathedral The St. James the Apostle Archcathedral Basilica (; ) is a Gothic cathedral located in Szczecin, Poland and seat of the Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień. Built in the 12th-14th centuries, it is the second tallest church in Poland, the largest chu ...

References

1969 births Living people Archbishops of Szczecin-Kamień 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Poland John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin alumni {{improve categories, date=June 2024