At the beginning of November, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz (74) as Archbishop of Warsaw and appointed Galbas as the new head of the archdiocese.
Galbas had headed the Silesian archdiocese of Katowice since mid-2023. He is considered a moderate progressive in the Catholic Church in Poland.
In his half-hour sermon, the archbishop emphasised that he was "not a magician, not a miracle worker and not a genius. If that is what you expect from me, you will be disappointed".
He wants to be a pastor first and foremost. "I want to walk together, synodally, in the deepest sense of the word, in the hope that you too, brothers and sisters, clergy and laity, will sometimes lift me up, sometimes support me, sometimes point me in the right direction, sometimes admonish me, but never marginalise me," said Galbas.
Pastoral theology and journalism
Nycz had headed the capital city diocese for almost 18 years. In February 2025, he will reach the usual retirement age for diocesan bishops of 75. According to his own statement, he submitted his resignation to the Pope at the end of 2023.
Galbas was consecrated bishop in January 2020 and initially served as auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Elk in north-east Poland.
He has been Archbishop Coadjutor since the end of 2021 and Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Katowice since May 2023. He heads the Council for the Apostolate of the Laity at the Polish Bishops' Conference.
Galbas was born on 26 January 1968 in the Upper Silesian town of Bytom. He joined the Pallottine Order in 1987 and was ordained a priest in 1994.
After a short time in parish pastoral care, he studied pastoral theology and journalism in Lublin.
In 2012, he completed his doctorate in spiritual theology in Warsaw.
From 2011, Galbas was provincial of the Pallottine Order until he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Elk by Pope Francis in December 2019.