Grzegorz Ryś was born in Kraków on 9 February 1964 and was ordained a priest for the archdiocese on 22 May 1988 by Cardinal Franciszek Macharski. A church historian, he took his doctorate and habilitation at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków, specialising in the medieval Church; he served as rector of Kraków's major seminary and chaired the Conference of Rectors of Polish seminaries. Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Kraków in 2011. In Łódź, where Pope Francis sent him as archbishop on 14 September 2017 (he took possession on 4 November), he built a synodal, Francis-shaped local Church: a permanent diaconate, a Redemptoris Mater missionary seminary, and in 2020 service as apostolic administrator of Kalisz at Francis's request.
Created cardinal on 30 September 2023, with the titular church of Santi Cirillo e Metodio, he was named by Pope Leo XIV on 26 November 2025 to the see he knows best: Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków, the archdiocese of Karol Wojtyła. At his farewell in Łódź he credited Francis with his whole understanding of the Church; at his installation in Kraków that December he announced a diocesan synod and told the faithful that without them a bishop 'doesn't make sense.' He chairs the Polish bishops' Council for Religious Dialogue and was a cardinal elector in the 2025 conclave.
Consequential Quotes
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, I don't want another church.
If there is no encounter with Jesus, who is the living Lord, then everything we do in the church is some form of entertainment.
The church's mission is not to transmit doctrine, but to transmit life, to transmit the love that Jesus bestowed upon us, to transmit grace.
Listen to each other, because the other perspective is important for each side.
Major Works & Initiatives
Ucieczka do wolności (Escape to Freedom)
His autobiographical essay on his own path to the priesthood and the meaning of freedom, published in Kraków.
The Łódź renewal
Eight years governing Łódź in a synodal key — the achievements he named at his farewell were the archdiocesan synodal process, its charitable works, its mass encounters with youth and its seminary formation.
A diocesan synod for Kraków
Announced at his installation that Kraków would begin a diocesan synod in the first months of 2026, 'because that's what the universal Church is living' until 2028.
Chairman, Council for Religious Dialogue (Polish Bishops' Conference)
Leads the Polish episcopate's dialogue work; in January 2026 he led the 29th Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland at Płock, alongside Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
Controversies
A contested succession in Kraków
Ryś's appointment to Kraków was read in Poland's polarised Church through his predecessor: Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski's nine years were marked by a formal, ceremonial style and reported distance from priests and faithful, and commentators such as Tygodnik Powszechny's Edward Augustyn told OSV News that listening was what Kraków had lacked most. Reform-minded Catholics welcomed a Francis-shaped pastor; more traditional voices were wary of his record — his frank interviews on the Polish Church, his defence of reading Vatican II as a guide for Tradition, and his closeness to Pope Francis's line. Ryś's own answer, given on arrival, was availability: priests and bishops, he said, must be reachable — 'if you can't answer someone's call, you have to call them back.'