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Cardinal Archbishop Marian Jaworski

Marian Cardinal Jaworski is the head of the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ukraine. The forty-third Latin rite metropolitan of Lviv, he was born in Lviv in 1926. He says that it was there that he learned real ecumenism, ecumenism "from below," before he studied theological texts.

He was admitted to the Lviv seminary in 1945, and that same year he left for Poland to study in a seminary near Krakow. In 1950 he was ordained to the priesthood and in 1952 and 1955 he wrote his doctoral dissertations in Philosophy and Theology.

A few years later he became acquainted with Fr. Dr. Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II. They eventually became friends and this friendship had a strong influence on Cardinal Jaworski's life and views. He taught at the Pontifical Theological Academy in Krakow and at the Catholic Academy in Warsaw. He is the author of nearly 50 works in metaphysics and the philosophy of religion.

In 1967 Bishop Karol Wojtyla was named cardinal and left for Rome; Father Jaworski took his place on a pastoral visitation of the city of Olsztyn. On his way to the city he was involved in a train accident and lost his hand.

After Cardinal Wojytla was elected Pope of Rome, Father Jaworski became the first rector of the Pontifical Theological Academy in Krakow. In 1984 he received episcopal ordination.

He was appointed Metropolitan of Lviv for Roman Catholics on January 16, 1991. The authorities in Lviv did not favor this appointment: they mentioned that Bishop Jaworski was a Polish citizen and that local structures did not support his candidacy. As the years passed, his relations with the civil authorities and leaders of other Churches have improved, though some tension remains. In 1992 Archbishop Jaworski, a citizen of Poland, submitted documents to receive dual citizenship, which is not provided for by Ukrainian-Polish treaties.

On January 28, 2001 it was announced that he was named a Cardinal of the Roman Church by Pope John Paul II.

In his spare time he reads philosophical works. In addition to Polish and Ukrainian he knows German, French and Italian.

Text adapted from the Ukrainian-language journal "Liudyna i Svit" ("The Human Being and the World"), February, 1998.