The 61-year-old has been Archbishop of Łódź since 2017, with the episcopal motto Virtue in infirmitate (“Strength in weakness”). He has spoken out in defence of migrants and refugees.
Following his appointment, Cardinal Ryś said: “I can’t imagine a Church other than the one Francis taught us. I don’t want a different Church. I don’t want a Church that isn’t missionary, I don’t want a Church that isn’t merciful, I don’t want a Church that isn’t open, that isn’t in dialogue.”
As president of the Polish bishops’ Council for Religious Dialogue and the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism, in 2023 he apologised to Jews after the far-right Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun used a fire extinguisher to put out the candles on a just-lit Hanukkah menorah in the Polish parliament.
The appointment of Ryś marks a clear shift from his retired predecessor, Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski, who was controversial for his outspoken views. Jedraszewski called LGBTQ+ rights a “rainbow plague” and a “neo-Marxist ideology” that “wants to corrupt Polish children in kindergartens and schools, all in the name of tolerance”.
He was outspoken on political issues too, warning that Poland’s existence as a sovereign state was under threat from the “European superstate”.
Earlier this month, Cardinal Ryś became the second bishop in Poland to announce the establishment of an independent diocesan commission to investigate the sexual abuse of children by clergy in the Archdiocese of Łódź.
His announcement followed a decision in June that the bishops’ conference was terminating the activities of a team led by the Primate of Poland, Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno, to lay the foundations for a national commission of independent experts to investigate the sexual abuse of minors in the Polish Church.
Cardinal Ryś entered the Kraków seminary in 1982, an institution he was later to lead. Ordained a priest in 1988, and an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Kraków in 2011, he is known for his evangelical work, organising youth events in Kraków and later in Łódź. Pope Francis made Ryś a cardinal in 2023.
The religious commentator Tomasz Terlikowski hailed his appointment as “the best possible choice” but warned it would not change the balance of power with the Polish episcopate.
“A system not particularly favourable to Cardinal Ryś or Pope Francis’ line currently rules, and will continue to do so,” he wrote on social media.
Terlikowski said there are limits to Cardinal Ryś’ open pastoral line. The cardinal opposes a full investigation into allegations an earlier Archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wotyla, later Pope John Paul II, covered up sexual abuse scandals within the Church.
On 23 November the Polish bishops’ conference issued an appeal for respect for John Paul II, amid concerns the allegations undermine his status as a symbol of Polish national pride as well as his vital role in undermining communism in his homeland.
“It takes a great deal of ill will not to notice the enormous wealth of good that is the fruit of his extremely hard-working and creative service at the See of Peter and the contribution he has made to positive changes in Poland. That is why the constant attempts to discredit his authority in our homeland fill us with sadness,” they said.