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Adrian Joseph Galbas

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20th and 21st-century Roman Catholic Archbishop
His Grace The Most Reverend Monsignor
Adrian Joseph Galbas
S.A.C.
Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw
Portrait photo in profile with crozier
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseWarsaw
ProvinceWarsaw
Appointed4 November 2024
Installed14 December 2024
PredecessorKazimierz Nycz
Previous post(s)Auxiliary Bishop of Ełk (2019–2021)
Coadjutor Archbishop of Katowice (2021–2023)
Metropolitan Archbishop of Katowice(2023–2024)
Orders
Ordination7 May 1994
by Józef Kowalczyk
Consecration11 January 2020
by Jerzy Mazur
Personal details
BornAdrian Joseph Galbas
(1968-01-26) 26 January 1968 (age 56)
Bytom, Poland
DenominationRoman Catholic
Alma materJohn Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
MottoPAX CHRISTI
Coat of armsAdrian Joseph Galbas's coat of arms

Adrian Joseph Galbas, S.A.C. (born 26 January 1968) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw since December 2024. He became Archbishop of Katowice in May 2023, after sixteen months as coadjutor there. He was auxiliary bishop of Ełk from 2020 to 2021. He is a professed member of the Pallottines (Society of the Catholic Apostolate).

Biography

Adrian Joseph Galbas was born in Bytom on 26 January 1968. He joined the Pallottines in 1987. After spending the year 1987–88 in the novitiate in Ząbkowice Śląskie, he studied at that order's major seminary in Ołtarzew and took his final vows on 10 September 1993 in Zakopane. He was ordained a priest of that order on 7 May 1994 in Ołtarzew by Józef Kowalczyk, Archbishop of Gniezno.

His priestly career combined pastoral assignments, leadership roles for the Pallottines, and advanced studies. He was vicar of the parish of Saint Michael the Archangel in Łódź in 1994–95; studied for three years at the Catholic University of Lublin, earning a licentiate in pastoral theology in 1998; was prefect of discipline at the Pallottine major seminary in Ołtarzew from 1998 to 2002; provincial counselor in Poznań from 2002 to 2005; and priest of Saint Lawrence parish in Poznań from 2003 to 2011. After years of study he was awarded a doctorate in spiritual theology from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw in 2012. From 2011 to 2019 he was the Pallottines' provincial for Poznań.

On 12 December 2019, Pope Francis named him auxiliary bishop of Ełk and titular bishop of Naissus. He received his episcopal consecration on 11 January 2020 from Jerzy Mazur, Bishop of Elk.

On 4 December 2021, Pope Francis named him Archbishop Coadjutor of Katowice.

On 31 May 2023, he succeeded as Archbishop of Katowice when Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Wiktor Skworc. He was installed there on 17 June. He led Poland's preparation for the Bishops' Synod on Synodality and was one of three bishops representing Poland when it met in November 2023. Church observer Tomasz Krzyžak wrote that only Galbas returned from Rome speaking the pope's language of synodality without hesitation.

In October 2023, following the abrupt removal of Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak from the Diocese of Sosnowiec, Galbas was named apostolic administrator of that diocese.

Speaking to participants in a women's pilgrimage in the autumn of 2023, he described his own experience of crises of faith. He said that "The God I met in childhood was very categorical, you had to earn your place in Him. When I was growing up, this faith was not able to keep me in the Church." He said he had to find his way independently and concluded: "The enemy of faith is religious fundamentalism, which believes it knows the answers to all questions, for which ideology is God, and which is an equal threat to believers and non-believers."

On 4 November 2024, Pope Francis transferred him to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Warsaw. Krzyžak described his appointment as part of Pope Francis' program for qualitative change in the leadership of the Church in Poland, but thought his reassignment after such a short time in Katowice demonstrated the lack of available pastoral talent. Another journalist expressed "surprise and relief" at Galbas' selection, believing other candidates too "conservative and clerical" to communicate with Warsaw's secular culture and judging Galbas the exponent of "liberalism that includes respect for those who think differently, humility, and lack of pomposity". Until his installation in Warsaw, Galbas was the apostolic administrator of Katowice. He was installed in Warsaw on 14 December 2024.

Within the Polish Episcopal Conference (KEP) he chairs the Council for the Lay Apostolate. He is a member of the Permanent Council of the KEP, a member of its team for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigration, a delegate for the Apostolate of the Sick, and a delegate for the Schoenstatt Movement in Poland.

References

  1. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 12.12.2019" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Abp Adrian Galbas SAC nowym metropolitą warszawskim" [Archbishop Adrian Galbas SAC, the new metropolitan of Warsaw]. Archdiocese of Warsaw (in Polish). 4 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Resignations and Appointments, 04.12.2021" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  4. "Pope Names Coadjutor Archbishop of Katowice, Poland". Exaudi. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  5. "Resignations and Appointments, 31.05.2023" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  6. ^ Krzyžak, Tomasz (4 November 2024). "Tomasz Krzyżak: Abp Adrian Galbas do Warszawy to dobry ruch, ale widać przy okazji słabość polskiego Kościoła" [Tomasz Krzyżak: Archbishop Adrian Galbas to Warsaw is a good move, but it also shows the weakness of the Polish Church]. Wydarxenia (in Polish). Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  7. Guzik, Paulina (25 October 2023). "Pope Accepts Resignation of Polish Bishop in Whose Diocese 'Sexual Orgy' Took Place". The Tablet. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  8. "Abp Adrian Galbas nowym metropolitą warszawskim" [Archbishop Adrian Galbas, new metropolitan of Warsaw]. Więź (in Polish). 4 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  9. ^ Halcewicz, Jakub (4 November 2024). "Adrian Galbas nowym biskupem Warszawy. Zaskoczenie i ulga, dobry wybór dla Kościoła" [Adrian Galbas, the new bishop of Warsaw. Surprise and relief, a good choice for the Church]. Polytika (in Polish). Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  10. "Resignations and Appointments, 04.11.2024" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 4 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  11. "Komunikat Nuncjatury Apostolskiej w Polsce". Archdiocese of Katowice (in Polish). 4 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  12. "Abp Galbas na ingresie w Warszawie: Nie jestem politykiem, biznesmenem, czy graczem. Nie jestem też czarodziejem, cudotwórcą i geniuszem" [Archbishop Galbas at the ingress in Warsaw: I am not a politician, businessman or player. I am not a wizard, miracle worker or genius either]. Gość Niedzielny (in Polish). 14 December 2024. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
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