Catholic World News News Feature
Archbishop Dziwisz named to Krakow see June 03, 2005
Archbishop Stanislas Dziwisz, the longtime personal secretary to Pope John Paul II, has been named Archbishop of Krakow.
The 68-year-old archbishop, who formal title at the Vatican has been vice-prefect of the pontifical household, will succeed Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, who at 78 is well beyond retirement age. The appointment all but guarantees that Archbishop Dziwisz will become a cardinal at the next consistory.
The appointment of Archbishop Dziwisz to the Krakow see, which had been the subject of rumors around Rome for several weeks, was announced by Pope Benedict XVI on June 3, the feast of the Sacred Heart. The timing of the announcement is certainly not coincidental; Krakow was the first diocese to celebrate the liturgical feast of the Sacred Heart. The patron saint of the new archbishop, St. Stanislaus, an 11th-century martyr, is also the patron of Krakow.
However, the most obvious link between Archbishop Dziwisz and Krakow comes through another former head of the archdiocese: Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. The Polish archbishop and future Pontiff chose Father Dziwisz to work closely with him in Krakow from 1964 to 1978, and later to join him as private secretary at the Vatican. Pope John Paul relied heavily on the man known as "Don Stanislao," and raised him to the dignity of an archbishop.
Since the death of Pope John Paul, Archbishop Dziwisz has continued to serve at the Vatican, but his formal responsibilities have not matched the extraordinary influence that he had wielded as the right-hand man to the Roman Pontiff. Pope Benedict XVI has brought his own longtime aide, the German Father Georg Ganswein, to serve as his own private secretary.
A second Polish aide brought into the pontifical household by John Paul II, Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, continues to serve in the same capacity.
