Jump to content

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk

Coordinates: 54°24′40″N 18°33′32″E / 54.411014°N 18.558911°E / 54.411014; 18.558911
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archdiocese of Gdańsk

Archidioecesis Gedanensis

Archidiecezja Gdańska
Archcathedral Basilica of The Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary and St Bernard in Gdańsk Oliwa
Location
Country Poland
Statistics
Area2,500 km2 (970 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2021)
1,073,339
926,220 (86.3%)
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
CathedralArchcathedral Basilica of The Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary and St Bernard in Gdańsk Oliwa
Co-cathedralThe Co-Cathedral of St Mary
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopTadeusz Wojda S.A.C.
Auxiliary Bishops
Bishops emeritusSławoj Leszek Głódź
Map
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Gdańsk (Latin: Gedanen(sis)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Poland. The diocese's episcopal see is Gdańsk.

According to the church statistics Sunday mass attendance was 38.1% in 2013 making it lower than the Polish average of weekly mass attendance (39.1%).

Its Archcathedral Basilica of The Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary and St Bernard in Gdańsk is listed as a Historic Monument of Poland.[1]

History

[edit]
Co-Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

After World War I and restoration of independent Poland, the city of Gdańsk (Danzig) was not restored to Poland from Germany, but rather turned into a free city according to the Treaty of Versailles. The Catholic congregation west of the Vistula belonged to the Diocese of Chełmno, which was restored to Poland and east of the Vistula to the Diocese of Warmia, which remained part of Weimar Germany in the interbellum. Germans within the administration of the Diocese of Chełmno were replaced by Polish priests and the Polish language was implemented as binding.[2] While about 130,000 people in Danzig were Catholic, only about 10 percent of them were Polish-speaking and the first attempts to reorganize the ecclesiastical allocation were made in spring 1919, when members of the German congregation asked for an affiliation to the Diocese of Warmia.[2]

While these attempts were supported by the German government, the Polish government tried to preserve the current situation. Pope Pius XI decided to establish an Apostolic Administrator of the Free City of Danzig on 24 April 1922, which was directly subordinated to the Pope. In 1925 a concordat between Poland and the Holy See was signed and the Apostolic Administrator was now supposed to be subordinated to the Nuncio of Warsaw, which caused protests among the local populace. Thus the Pope established the exempt Diocese of Danzig on 30 December 1925 and appointed Edward O'Rourke as the first Bishop on 2 January 1926.[2]

The Diocese was promoted as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Gdańsk on 25 March 1992. On 17 November 1993, the Archbishop issued the instructions on the status of Kashubian as a language of liturgy.[3][4]

Reports of sex abuse

[edit]
Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź

In 2019, three protestors toppled a statue of Rev. Henryk Jankowski following revelations that he sexually abused Barbara Borowiecka when she was a girl.[5][6] Jankowski, who also had a criminal investigation involving the sexual abuse of a boy dropped against him in 2004, had been defrocked in 2005.[6] However, he died in 2010 without ever being convicted of sex abuse.[6] It has also been acknowledged that Lech Walsea's personal chaplain Rev. Franciszek Cybula had been accused of committing acts of sex abuse while serving in the as well.[5] On 13 August 2020, Pope Francis removed Gdańsk Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź, who was among those who covered up abuse committed by Jankowski and Cybula.[5] Glodz had also presided over Cybula's funeral. Despite the fact that Glodz had just turned 75, the required age for Catholic Bishops to offer their resignation, the move was described as "cleaning house," as it is highly unusual for the Pope to accept such a resignation on a prelate's actual birthday.[5]

Special churches

[edit]

Leadership

[edit]
Diocesan bishops
Metropolitan bishops
Auxiliary bishops

Suffragan dioceses

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 22 listopada 2017 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii "Gdańsk-Oliwa - zespół pocystersko-katedralny", Dz. U., 2017, No. 2277
  2. ^ a b c Das Bistum Danzig in Lebensbildern (in German). Stefan Samerski. 2003. ISBN 9783825862848. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
  3. ^ http://www.ies.ee/iesp/grabowska.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ "Archidiecezja Gdanska". www.diecezja.gda.pl. Archived from the original on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d https://www.wral.com/pope-cleans-house-in-poland-after-abuse-cover-up-scandal/19233772/ [dead link‍]
  6. ^ a b c "Statue of Polish Solidarity priest accused of paedophilia removed". Reuters. 21 February 2019. Archived from the original on February 21, 2019.
[edit]

54°24′40″N 18°33′32″E / 54.411014°N 18.558911°E / 54.411014; 18.558911

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Gdańsk&oldid=1254032664"