Retired Kraków cardinal dead at 89
August 02, 2016
Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, who succeeded St. John Paul II as archbishop of Kraków, died on August 2 at the age of 89.
Born in Kraków in 1927, Cardinal Macharski was ordained to the priesthood in 1950 by Cardinal Adam Sapieha, who had ordained St. John Paul II a priest four years earlier.
St. John Paul appointed Father Macharski, who served as rector of the archdiocesan seminary, as his successor in December 1978, two months after the papal election. On the feast of the Epiphany in 1979, St. John Paul ordained Father Macharski a bishop in St. Peter’s Basilica, and just five months later, he created him a cardinal.
Cardinal Macharski served as cardinal archbishop of Kraków until June 2005, two months after the death of St. John Paul. He was succeeded by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, St. John Paul’s private secretary.
During his recent apostolic journey to Poland, Pope Francis visited Cardinal Macharski, who was seriously ill and hospitalized.
With the death of Cardinal Macharski, there are 211 members of the College of Cardinals, 112 of whom are eligible to take part in a papal election.
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