Catholic Bishops of Poland Elect a New President - Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda

Archbishop Wojda, age 67, is elected head of Polish Bishops' Conference Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, the new president of the Polish Bishops' Conference.

On March 14 this year, on the second day of the 397th Plenary Meeting of the Polish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda SAC, Metropolitan of Gdańsk, was elected Chairman of the Polish Episcopal Conference for a period of five years.

In the Polish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Wojda serves, among others, as: member of the Mission Committee.

The Chairman of the Polish Episcopate represents the Conference externally. He is an ex officio member of the Permanent Council of the Polish Episcopate. Together with the Deputy Chairman and the Secretary General, they form the Presidium of the Polish Episcopal Conference. The President convenes a meeting of the Permanent Council, the Plenary Meeting and the Council of Diocesan Bishops, during which he presides. It also sends reports and documents from the meetings of the bodies to the Holy See through the Apostolic Nunciature.

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda SAC was born on January 29, 1957 in Kowa in the Kielce region, into a large family, as the fourth child of Władysław and Aniela née Pietrzyk. His younger brother is also a priest in the Association of Catholic Apostolate (Pallottine), and his older sister is in the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth of Cieszyn.

In 1976 he joined the Association of Catholic Apostolate (SAC). In the years 1977-1983 he studied philosophy and theology at the Major Seminary of the Association of the Catholic Apostolate in Ołtarzew near Warsaw, and at the same time in the years 1980-1983 he studied fundamental theology at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw, graduating with a master's degree. In 1982, he was ordained a deacon in the Association of Catholic Apostolate, and on May 8, 1983, he was ordained a priest. After ordination, he worked for several months as a vicar in the parish of Christ the King in Warsaw, and then he worked with the Pallottine Mission Secretariat in Ząbki.

In May 1984, by decision of the Provincial Council, he was sent to study missiology in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University, which he completed with a doctorate in 1989. He defended his doctoral thesis on "Trends in mission theology from Münster and Louvain". It was nostrified at the Faculty of Theology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw in 2001.

On January 2, 1990, Fr. Wojda began working in the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith and in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. From December 12, 2007, he served as the head of the office at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. On July 24, 2012, he was appointed by the Pope as undersecretary at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Moreover, since 1991, Fr. Wojda is the chaplain of the community of the Borromean Sisters in Rome, and since 1996 - the chaplain of the Physical Education Center for the disabled of the Italian Red Cross. He is also the author of numerous articles and scientific dissertations in the field of missiology.

On April 12, 2017, the Holy Father Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Białystok. Episcopal ordination of Fr. Wojda accepted on June 10, 2017. They were given to him by the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Propagation of the Faith, Cardinal. Fernando Filoni. The co-consecrators were Archbishop Edward Ozorowski and Archbishop Henryk Hoser. During this ceremony, the new Metropolitan Archbishop entered the Białystok Archcathedral.

The motto of Archbishop's episcopal ministry Wojda are words from the Gospel according to St. Mark (13:10): "Oportet praedicari Evangelium" (That the Gospel may be preached).

On March 2, 2021, Archbishop Wojda was appointed Metropolitan of Gdańsk by Pope Francis.

diecezja.gda.pl / BP KEP
https://episkopat.pl/abp-tadeusz-wojda-nowym-przewodniczacym-konferencji-episkopatu-polski/

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