Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Polish Scarlett Pimpernel (13)

Three final candidates have been chosen to become the next Archbishop of Warsaw, according to a Polish newspaper.

The daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports that Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, the apostolic nuncio in Poland, has forwarded a slate of three names to the Vatican to be considered for the appointment.

The paper says that the three prelates under consideration are Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference; Bishop Kazimierz Nycz of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, a former auxiliary in Krakow, and Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the secretary of the Pontifical Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The opening in the Warsaw archdiocese was created by Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, who had been named by Pope Benedict XVI in December to replace the retiring Cardinal Jozef Glemp, resigned his post on the eve of his installation, after having been accused of acting as an informer for the Communist secret police.

Archbishop Michalik, who has led the Polish bishops’ conference in establishing new policies to cope with the fallout from the accusations against Archbishop Wielgus, is described by Gazeta Wyborcza as a conservative prelate. He was ordained as a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1986.

More recently, Archbishop Michalik met with Pope Benedict XVI after the Pontiff’s regular weekly audience on January 26. The meeting caused a flurry of speculation that he would be named the new Archbishop of Warsaw.

Gazeta Wyborcza describes Bishop Nycz as a more liberal prelate, while the inclusion of Archbishop Hoser on the list of reported finalists is seen as something of a surprise. A medical doctor by training and a former missionary who served in Rwanda, Archbishop Hoser became secretary of the Congregation for Evangelization in January 2005.

The list of three candidates mentioned by Gazeta Wyborcza has not been confirmed by any Vatican official, and in fact the Vatican does not discuss candidates for episcopal appointments.

If in fact the newspaper has provided an accurate list of the candidates recommended by the apostolic nuncio, Pope Benedict would be free to choose one of those three or opt for a different candidate.


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