SANCTIFYING OFFICE
Sacred Scripture
Cardinal Nycz has encouraged the faithful to read the Sacred Scriptures. Since 2017, he has organized an annual “National Day of Scripture Reading” in his diocese. During the inauguration of this new tradition, the Warsaw Metropolitan said: “Without reading the Holy Scriptures, one cannot know Jesus Christ, one cannot come to faith and believe in Christ Crucified and Risen. Without reading this book and listening to the Word of God, we are not able to live the beautiful Christian life we desire and think about when we are at work, in the family and in various places in the world.” The cardinal stressed that the goal of such initiatives is the daily reading of Scripture, which “is able to move people and is capable of showing them the way of love, goodness and faith.”
At the same time, Cardinal Nycz warned against interpreting Scripture contrary to the Church’s teaching, and relying on “one’s own interpretation or even over-interpretation of the words of Scripture.”
When he celebrated Mass for the participants of the Bible Congress in Warsaw, he said: “It is impossible to understand the culture of Europe without the Bible, just as it is impossible to evangelize outside the culture.”
The Holy Eucharist
The cardinal’s teaching on the Eucharist and the way he celebrates Mass was never controversial. He spoke most often on the subject of Communion and the Eucharist during and just after the Covid crisis.
In the first year of the pandemic, during the celebration of Corpus Christi, he said that the procession with the Blessed Sacrament was “an invitation for the faithful to go to their parish” and “receive Jesus into their hearts.” At each of the altars, he said “we listened to the Gospel give us an answer to what the Eucharist is in the Church and in our lives.”
“The Eucharist is the food of the disciples of Jesus, which is the greatest gift of God,” he added.
“The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our redemption. The Eucharist is the community of the deepest disciples of Jesus gathered at the altar. The Eucharist is also the hallmark of Christ’s disciples. Therefore, Sunday Mass is the most important moment of the week. The Eucharist is also thanksgiving.”
During the first wave of the 2020 pandemic in Poland, churches were partially closed, and bishops, including Cardinal Nycz, granted the faithful a dispensation from having to attend Sunday Mass. Cardinal Nycz was one of the first Polish bishops to remind the faithful that they have an obligation to receive Holy Communion during the Easter season, and that “this entails sacramental Confession, which must be made even if during the pandemic we expressed perfect contrition cleansing us of grave sins.”
The Traditional Roman Rite
Following the promulgation of Pope Francis’ motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes, Cardinal Nycz did not ban the celebration of Mass in the traditional Roman Rite in his diocese.
In 2021, after returning from an ad limina apostolorum visit of Polish bishops to Rome, Cardinal Nycz reported on discussions regarding the document. He said that the Congregation (now Dicastery) for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments acknowledged that the content of the motu proprio had caused undesirable consequences in some cases, such as the departure from the Church of some faithful.
“On the one hand, the Congregation admitted that the matter was resolved too harshly, and instead of serving unity, in individual cases, it could lead to someone leaving the Church because their needs were not met,” he said. “On the other hand, a willingness was expressed to interpret the motu proprio broadly — more according to the spirit than the letter of the law issued. We are waiting for the promised guidelines on this subject.” Nycz was the only Polish bishop to raise the topic in the media.
In 2024, the Warsaw Metropolitan erected an apostolate of the Institute of the Good Shepherd in the Archdiocese of Warsaw. The cardinal granted the newly created pastoral center all the powers enjoyed by personal quasi-parishes, including the right to administer the Holy Sacraments and keep their own metrical books.
Consecrated Life
Cardinal Nycz often speaks in warm terms about monks, nuns and other consecrated persons.
In 2023, speaking to the superiors of men’s religious orders, he urged them to emulate the famous Polish religious martyrs St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Andrew Bobola because both saints “lived in the times of both saints in times that were characterized by a radical witness to holiness.”
Cardinal Nycz told them:
“Today, however, it is not a matter of committing a certain ahistoricism, copying their lives mindlessly, but of imitating them in a creative way in today’s world and Church. To imitate while preserving the hermeneutics of continuity, and at the same time to recognize the signs of the times, to respond to the problems and changes that are taking place around us (…) The times in which we live need, above all, a radical way of preaching. To tell this world not only about the Gospel and Jesus Christ, but, above all, to lead this world to Jesus Christ, who answers all the questions and needs of man. This will be done if we cooperate with the work of Christ together and not each on his own.”
Each year, during the World Day for Consecrated Life, celebrated in Poland on February 2, Cardinal Nycz prays for consecrated persons. In 2022, he asked “that the whole Church give thanks to the Lord God for people of consecrated life. He gave thanks for every religious sister, every religious brother, every father, every consecrated person, because this is the wealth of the Church.”1He added: “Your presence, is a sign for people, especially on this main street of Warsaw is perhaps a sign for those who are from other cultures, countries. It gives them food for thought. It is a sign that since these people are praying, singing, giving up many things, it means that there are values that transcend the earthly dimension, for which it is worth sacrificing something, worth giving up. This symbol should let the world know that there is a reality to which we are going, for which it is worth sacrificing a lot. It is a symbol and a sign of the believer’s life.”
Marian Devotion
The Metropolitan of Warsaw quite rarely speaks about the Blessed Virgin Mary in a country where bishops often speak about her and make pilgrimages to her most important shrines.
However, as archbishop, he did crown Marian images in his diocese several times and established new shrines dedicated to the Mother of God.
During the jubilee celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Fatima apparitions at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Warsaw, Cardinal Nycz said: “Mary is a monstrance, a living monstrance that carries people to Christ. In this sense, each of us is a temple, a place where God dwells. She is such a Fatima monstrance, carrying Jesus to the brethren.”
TEACHING OFFICE
Gender & Homosexuality
It is only in recent years that the Warsaw metropolitan has begun to speak out more often on the subject of “changing the family model,” gender ideology, and the demands of the “LGBT” lobby and community.
As recently as 2014, when asked why the synod on the family abandoned a “sympathetic reference to homosexuals,” he compared the Church’s approach to homosexuals to the pre-Synod Church’s approach to ecumenism.
“The Synod, in an open discussion, showed that people in the Church — not only bishops and priests, but also laymen — indeed sometimes failed to speak to, and about, certain people in the language of love or to approach them with an attitude of openness and mercy,” he said. “This will change, but subject of course to limits that do not undermine the Church’s teaching on marriage.”
Speaking of persons with homosexual tendencies, he asserted: “One cannot judge others from the position of one’s own holiness, because we are sinners too.” At the time, the cardinal also saw no problem with parents inviting the homosexual partner of their adult son or daughter to Christmas. In doing so, he cited the fact that while the Church does not accept civil unions, parents often invite their children who live this way. “Just as Cardinal Schönborn said, I see no obstacle to lovingly approaching such a couple,” Nycz said. “It is one thing to refer to this type of relationship and another to accept it morally and legally,” he added. He said this despite having previously asserted that gender ideology “is built on a false vision of the human being.”
In 2019, he criticized the “LGBT+ Declaration” adopted by the Warsaw authorities. According to the cardinal, “it contradicts the constitutional right of parents to raise their children in accordance with their own beliefs, as well as the current educational law.”
In recent years, he has increasingly spoken out against the promotion of same-sex unions. “Scripture teaches us some basic truths relating to what marriage is,” he said in 2021. In 2023, he said that in the “pictorial description of the creation of man and woman, a description which is a certain image, a vision of the biblical author, but which encapsulates certain kernels of truth, we read that man was created male and female and sent into the world created by God for the purpose of transforming this world… It is not permissible or necessary to seek another definition of marriage, or even to redefine marriage, beyond the fact that it is, in God’s intention, a union between a man and a woman blessed by the Creator.”
Fiducia Supplicans
Asked about the blessing of homosexual couples in the context of Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Nycz answered rather evasively. He said:
“This ruling of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was in response to specific questions about blessings. In a substantive and proper sense, there is nothing concrete there that caused such a great storm. It is a clarification of what a liturgical or sacramental blessing is from the blessing that is given to the people who desire that blessing. The Pope grows out of South American culture and meets a variety of people who ask for a blessing. The man blesses these people and does not ask if they are of one option or another. Such a blessing does not have the stature of a sacramental blessing that takes place in marriage.”
It should be added, however, that some Catholic activists expressed great disappointment when Cardinal Nycz banned the gathering of signatures in the churches of his archdiocese in 2020 for a civic bill to ban LGBT propaganda.
Development of Doctrine
Cardinal Nycz very rarely speaks on doctrinal matters. Only one statement on “doctrinal development” can be found in public circulation, concerning Pope Francis’ change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty. The cardinal said the death penalty was “something unacceptable on the basis of the teaching of the Catholic Church” and that Pope Francis was “consistent in the development of the Church’s doctrine on the subject.”
Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue
The Metropolitan of Warsaw takes an active part in the standard ecumenical and interreligious activities carried out by the Catholic bishops. He does not often speak on these matters but meets with clergy of other denominations and religions.
“All eyes are on us Christians, whether those words we speak about unity and love among people of good will carry deeds,” he said during the main gathering during the 2019 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The cardinal admitted that Christian churches had “long diverged” but had now been praying together for a long time within the framework of ecumenism. “We pray constantly and want to be close to each other and together with each other,” he said.
Euthanasia, Abortion and Public Morality
In Poland, euthanasia is rarely discussed, and there are no bills on the issue. Abortion, however, is frequently discussed, as the country has a very restrictive anti-abortion law. With the rise of a coalition of leftist parties, ideas have been put forward to expand the right to abortion, which Cardinal Nycz rejects.
“He who believes in the Resurrection of Christ must be able to say NO to modernity, which grants man the right to abortion, or to decide what the end of human life will be and when it will be,” he declared at a homily in 2024.
On another occasion, Nycz said:
“When we hear today that the right to abortion is a human right; when we hear that the standard of modernity is the possibility of aborting human life, or some kind of right on demand, then we Christians must say to ourselves that, if this is the ideal to which the modern world aspires, we must, unfortunately, be backward on this point… We cannot follow a path that is unacceptable for Christ.”
In 2015, when the Polish government legalized the early abortion pill, the cardinal said: “The so-called ‘morning-after pill’ in many cases acts as an early abortifacient. We are dealing with the killing of a conceived child. Therefore, one cannot be surprised that the Church loudly opposes it.”
Human Fraternity, Migration and Climate Change
Issues related to a concern over the effects of climate change are not a priority for Cardinal Nycz. Despite this, as early as 2013, he spoke at the COP-19 climate change conference held in Warsaw, and urged the faithful to pray for the conference participants.
He also spoke of “dry trees,” which, he said, “have become victims of not very reasonable human activity by industry, which has poisoned not only the world of plant nature, animal nature, but also the entire ecology of man, our being in the world. That is why resolving these issues reasonably and wisely is such an urgent matter,” he said.
Warning against the effects of our own actions, the Warsaw metropolitan said: “Man is constantly anxious to expand the boundary of the legitimate autonomy of the world that the Creator has given him, without looking at whether this expansion will serve him or perhaps turn against him, against man.”
The cardinal has also called for man’s prudent use of God’s gifts, saying: “In solving these difficult, complicated issues, it is necessary to maintain basic justice towards man, towards people living in different regions of the world.” He therefore asked the faithful to pray “that this solution will always be accompanied by the wisdom and responsibility of man,” in order to avoid “the self-destruction of the world.”
Following the publication of the encyclical Laudato Si’, Cardinal Nycz drew attention to the Pope Francis’ emphasis on “respect for the autonomy and goodness of creation that God has assigned to it.” The task of mankind, he added, “is to care for the creation that has been entrusted to us. This cannot be achieved without serious dialogue regarding the situation of the world. For this reflection to be effective, we must invite all people of good will, including those who think differently, but who are equally concerned about the state in which the world is today,” he said. However, the cardinal has not returned to the issue of climate change in his public addresses, but has appointed a diocesan environmental chaplain of Laudato Si’ to the Warsaw Archdiocese.
On social issues, Cardinal Nycz has also repeatedly spoken about the need to support the poor, quoting Pope Francis and saying he supports the work of numerous Catholic organizations dedicated to helping the poor.
GOVERNING OFFICE
Sexual Abuse
Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz has been involved in promoting the fight against sex offenders among clergy representatives, and has never been accused of any wrongdoing. “Clergy sexual abuses cannot be hidden,” he has said. “The Church is capable of apologizing for them, and it must apologize, as well as expose them.”
Following the release of a famous documentary in Poland that revealed sex scandals in various dioceses, the cardinal apologized on behalf of the Polish Church to victims of abuse.2“As the Metropolitan of Warsaw, as a priest and as a human being, I apologize to the abused for the pain, for the tears, for the suffering. Every frame, every scene, every story told in this film knocks you into your seat. I was moved by the immense tragedy, the immense pain of those wronged,” he said. The documentary also mentioned a priest who was subordinate to the cardinal, but Nycz followed the law and Vatican guidelines in the case. He has also met with victims of sexual abuse, and has spoken of the importance of listening patiently to the victims and offering help where needed including covering costs of treatment.3“First of all, I listen. They very often need to get rid of the trauma they carry inside them. I don’t moralize. I offer them help. Spiritual, pastoral, because we have a team of priests and laymen who are ready to help. We also offer therapeutic help, but if there is a need — and there has been — we also cover the cost of their treatment in full. But first you must listen patiently.”
In 2020, the Vatican appointed Cardinal Nycz to investigate irregularities in another archdiocese (Gdansk), whose metropolitan was accused of covering up the clerical sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Nycz’s investigation resulted in penalties for the Gdansk archbishop, an order to live outside the archdiocese, a ban on attending public celebrations and meetings in the archdiocese, and an order to make payments to a foundation dedicated to preventing sexual abuse and supporting victims.
Communion for Divorced and “Remarried”
On the subject of Communion for divorcees living in new relationships, Cardinal Nycz has backed Familiaris Consortio, while remaining silent on Amoris Laetitia.
In 2014, when the Synod on the Family was underway, he called John Paul II’s document “revolutionary,” adding that that Familiaris Consortio should be implemented first.4“I don’t believe there is any possibility of changing doctrine in the Church. On the sacramentality of marriage and its indissolubility, there is no discussion, because the indissolubility of marriage was established not by the Church but by Jesus.” The cardinal added: “And as for the Synod participants who made these proposals, perhaps not all of them have read the last chapter of Familiaris consortio. Perhaps some thought it was necessary to go further. What is still revolutionary is what John Paul II proposed 30 years ago, namely that those people who cannot receive sacramental Communion should not be on the margins in the Church, but should be able to participate creatively in the various forms of life of the Church community. So I think we should first implement what John Paul II proposed, starting with the way we relate to these people in the chancery, not to focus on prohibitions, but to show them the prospect of full participation in the Eucharistic community, for example, through a mature decision to adopt the practice of so-called “white marriage.” Similarly, we should deal with a man who comes to the parish chancellery with his fiancée, but admits that he is a non-believer. We should not deny such a couple a church wedding, but apply the option that is enshrined in canon law. The ceremony takes place, the sacrament takes place and remains valid, but it involves one person, this believer. It can happen that a non-believer who has married a believer matures after a few years and discovers the sacramental dimension of marriage.”
Later, the cardinal repeatedly made statements quoting Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia, but not within the context of the controversy that arose over the possibility of access to Communion for Catholics who are divorced and living in a new union. Instead, he repeatedly lamented the condition of Polish families, especially the increasing incidence of divorce and the formation of non-sacramental unions.
German Synodal Way
When asked about the German “Synodal Way,” Cardinal Nycz has been cautiously critical. “I am afraid of such things that could lead the Church astray, that is, the introduction of democratism in the Church, especially if one does not distinguish between the discernment stage and the decision-making stage,” he said. “And this democratism would consist in the fact that we will have a majority vote.” But he implicitly supported the fact that certain controversial issues were being discussed as they have been “budding and sprouting for many decades.”5He said: “If, for example— I’m not just talking about the German synod now — I hear about proportional voting by priests and laity, and if with a two-thirds vote, the matter is considered to be voted down? It’s not just about the method, because, for example, during a conclave, we also vote, and for several days. But by this voting and obtaining the consensus of these two-thirds when electing a pope, by this consensus, as it were, we become an instrument of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if one uses the method of parliamentary voting as a way for the Church to act, I don’t know if this road leads anywhere. And this is my concern, not only about the Church in Germany. There is also the other side of the coin: some of the issues that the Church in Germany is dealing with are not a cause of fear for the Church in Poland. … These issues will not come up so quickly in our country, although some people are very afraid of it. But I think there are some problems that are both theirs and ours. My basic question is: is it that they discuss these problems and even argue to find a solution, and we have them too, only we don’t talk about them? Take the problem of sexuality or, specifically, contraception. This is a contemporary problem that has been budding and sprouting for many decades, and they are taking it up. My German brother in the episcopate might ask me: “Let the cardinal tell me, do you not have the problems that we have and so have no need to discuss them, or do you have them, but you just cover them up? And here is the basic problem.”
Cardinal Nycz has refused to sign letters written by bishops criticizing the German Synodal Way, saying he disapproved of the method of protest. “I will not join in signing open letters. I believe that this is not the proper method for those who have positions of responsibility, in the sense that you first publicize something to the whole world and then write to the addressee. This is not the way to go. A bishop, if he treats his ministry in the Church properly, should sit down with the other bishop to talk.”
Synodality
As for the synodality promoted by Pope Francis, Cardinal Nycz seems enthusiastic about it, seeing it as a fulfilment of the Second Vatican Council.
He calls it “a return to the sources and the beginning of the Church’s renewal…This renewal and the breath of the Holy Spirit also happened at the Council and after the Council…each region of the Church lived it out, considering the peculiarities and context of its region. We were then led by two great bishops — Cardinal Karol Wojtyla and Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. However, it turns out that even sixty years is not enough to achieve the desired goal. That is why Pope Francis is returning with all newness, with a breath of the Holy Spirit, towards a new embarking down the synodal path (…) The goal of the Synod on Synodality is for all people in the Church — bishops, priests, nuns, laity — to listen to the Word of God and to each other; to take into account what they say to each other,” he said.
The Warsaw metropolitan also issued a letter to the faithful encouraging them to take part in the diocesan stage of the Synod on Synodality. Summing up this stage of the process, he said:
“Synodality has always been present in the Church. It is not beginning only now. There are inherently synodal institutions in the Church, in the diocese, and in the parish, where one can talk, listen to one another and act together. They just need to be revived and put into action. These are Diocesan Councils, Parish Pastoral Councils. Also synodal are Economic Councils, parish groups in which the Church prays, talks and acts.”6He added: “Synodality is the Light-Life Movement, Oasis groups in parishes, circles of the domestic Church,” and praised movements and associations for being synodal. “Without them it will no longer be possible to do pastoral work in the future that is approaching,” the cardinal wrote.
In a homily delivered during the diocesan stage of the synod, Cardinal Nycz also said that “if the Church wants to be credible, it must be synodal; it must be a community; it must show that it is still young, and, reborn, undertakes the same task: “Go and proclaim the Gospel.”
- 1He added: “Your presence, is a sign for people, especially on this main street of Warsaw is perhaps a sign for those who are from other cultures, countries. It gives them food for thought. It is a sign that since these people are praying, singing, giving up many things, it means that there are values that transcend the earthly dimension, for which it is worth sacrificing something, worth giving up. This symbol should let the world know that there is a reality to which we are going, for which it is worth sacrificing a lot. It is a symbol and a sign of the believer’s life.”
- 2“As the Metropolitan of Warsaw, as a priest and as a human being, I apologize to the abused for the pain, for the tears, for the suffering. Every frame, every scene, every story told in this film knocks you into your seat. I was moved by the immense tragedy, the immense pain of those wronged,” he said.
- 3“First of all, I listen. They very often need to get rid of the trauma they carry inside them. I don’t moralize. I offer them help. Spiritual, pastoral, because we have a team of priests and laymen who are ready to help. We also offer therapeutic help, but if there is a need — and there has been — we also cover the cost of their treatment in full. But first you must listen patiently.”
- 4“I don’t believe there is any possibility of changing doctrine in the Church. On the sacramentality of marriage and its indissolubility, there is no discussion, because the indissolubility of marriage was established not by the Church but by Jesus.” The cardinal added: “And as for the Synod participants who made these proposals, perhaps not all of them have read the last chapter of Familiaris consortio. Perhaps some thought it was necessary to go further. What is still revolutionary is what John Paul II proposed 30 years ago, namely that those people who cannot receive sacramental Communion should not be on the margins in the Church, but should be able to participate creatively in the various forms of life of the Church community. So I think we should first implement what John Paul II proposed, starting with the way we relate to these people in the chancery, not to focus on prohibitions, but to show them the prospect of full participation in the Eucharistic community, for example, through a mature decision to adopt the practice of so-called “white marriage.” Similarly, we should deal with a man who comes to the parish chancellery with his fiancée, but admits that he is a non-believer. We should not deny such a couple a church wedding, but apply the option that is enshrined in canon law. The ceremony takes place, the sacrament takes place and remains valid, but it involves one person, this believer. It can happen that a non-believer who has married a believer matures after a few years and discovers the sacramental dimension of marriage.”
- 5He said: “If, for example— I’m not just talking about the German synod now — I hear about proportional voting by priests and laity, and if with a two-thirds vote, the matter is considered to be voted down? It’s not just about the method, because, for example, during a conclave, we also vote, and for several days. But by this voting and obtaining the consensus of these two-thirds when electing a pope, by this consensus, as it were, we become an instrument of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if one uses the method of parliamentary voting as a way for the Church to act, I don’t know if this road leads anywhere. And this is my concern, not only about the Church in Germany. There is also the other side of the coin: some of the issues that the Church in Germany is dealing with are not a cause of fear for the Church in Poland. … These issues will not come up so quickly in our country, although some people are very afraid of it. But I think there are some problems that are both theirs and ours. My basic question is: is it that they discuss these problems and even argue to find a solution, and we have them too, only we don’t talk about them? Take the problem of sexuality or, specifically, contraception. This is a contemporary problem that has been budding and sprouting for many decades, and they are taking it up. My German brother in the episcopate might ask me: “Let the cardinal tell me, do you not have the problems that we have and so have no need to discuss them, or do you have them, but you just cover them up? And here is the basic problem.”
- 6He added: “Synodality is the Light-Life Movement, Oasis groups in parishes, circles of the domestic Church,” and praised movements and associations for being synodal. “Without them it will no longer be possible to do pastoral work in the future that is approaching,” the cardinal wrote.
