SANCTIFYING OFFICE
Liturgy
Cardinal Krajewski has a keen interest in both the liturgy and the Second Vatican Council. This gave him the ideal background to rise to prominence in the Office of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations where he was often seen at the side of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI assisting at their papal Masses.
Preserving Access to Prayer and the Sacraments During Covid
During the Covid-19 pandemic, less than 24 hours after Cardinal Angelo De Donatis announced the unprecedented decision to close all churches in the Diocese of Rome in an effort to stop the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, Cardinal Krajewski did the exact opposite: he opened his titular church of Santa Maria Immacolata in Rome’s Esquiline district.
“In full compliance with the safety regulations it is my right to ensure an open church for the poor. This morning at 8 o’clock, I came here and opened wide the door. In this way the poor will be able to adore the Blessed Sacrament which is the consolation for all in this time of grave difficulty,” he told Italian media.
“It’s an act of disobedience, yes, I exposed the Blessed Sacrament and opened my church,” Krajewski said in an interview with Crux. “It didn’t happen under fascism, it didn’t happen under Russian or Soviet rule in Poland — the churches were not closed,” he said, adding that “this is an act that should give courage to other priests.”
“A home should always be open to its children. I don’t know if people will come or not, how many there will be, but their home is open,” he said.
In January 2021, while certain Covid-restrictions were still in place, Cardinal Krajewski concelebrated, with Cardinal George Pell, then-Archbishop Arthur Roche, and a dozen priests, the funeral of a 64-year-old Italian homeless man named Roberto, who died after several bouts with pneumonia.
For the funeral, Cardinal Krajewski personally chose the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus recounts the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, because, he said, “Robert always slept in front of a closed door.”
Preaching
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski has delivered several homilies that reflect his priorities in terms of sanctifying the faithful, with an emphasis on faith, charity, and social responsibility. The following are some key themes:
- Faith and God’s Presence
The Polish cardinal has frequently emphasized the importance of recognizing God’s presence in our lives. In one homily, he expressed gratitude for Pope John Paul II, describing him as “proof of God’s existence for twenty-seven years.”1Watykańska Fundacja Jana Pawła II
- The Culture of Life
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Krajewski spoke about how the crisis had transformed society’s perspective on life, underscoring his own personal pro-life stance. “We have become lovers of life: we have ceased to represent the culture of death that John Paul II spoke of,” he said.
Krajewski said that since the virus began spreading in Italy, no one was having discussions about the right of a person with Down Syndrome to live, or if it is up to the expectant mother to choose to abort her unborn child. Neither were Italians talking about euthanizing the elderly, and “there are no ‘equality’ marches that are really against equality and against freedom.”
“People don’t talk about abortion, or about euthanasia, because everyone is talking for life,” he added. “We are looking for vaccines, we are taking precautions to guarantee that we can save lives.”
“Everybody is choosing life today, beginning with the media,” Krajewski said. “God loves live. He does not want the death of the sinner; he wants for the sinner to convert.”
- The Power of Prayer and Unity
In a homily delivered in Ukraine during the conflict, Cardinal Krajewski emphasized the importance of prayer and unity in times of crisis. He declared: “With prayer we can stop the war,” and stressed that “a divided Church is a scandal.” He added: “Today we were all united, everyone prayed together and asked God for peace, according to the Gospel.”
Describing the chorus of prayer as rising “like the incense,” the cardinal said: “This is our strength” and he expressed his wish to “pass on this power and strength to the Ukrainian people.”
“Through faith, we can move mountains. I believe in that. Even more so to stop a stupid war,” he added.
Eucharistic Adoration
Underscoring again his strong belief in the efficacy of the Sacraments and especially the Most Blessed Sacrament, Krajewski has compared Eucharistic Adoration to “sunbathing,” saying it “calms you down because you let God look at you, and that’s the greatest strengthening you can get, because you get a sense of what is important.”
He compared Eucharistic Adoration to bathing in the sun because “you let the sunshine come upon you, as you truly are,” he told OSV News. “The monstrance is in the shape of the sun. When we sunbathe, we don’t say anything, we just put our face toward the sun in silence, and it’s the sun shining on us,” the cardinal said.
“So adoration is charging our batteries in silence. Silence speaks in adoration. During adoration, God sees us in truth, because before God, there is no possibility of faking anything, we just kneel there as we are,” Cardinal Krajewski said.
Commenting on a Eucharistic adoration initiative in St. Peter’s Square, he said “Yesterday…there was not a single cell phone ringing. What does this mean? That we need this silence for our spiritual life, that we long for it, that is why we come to adoration.”
Cardinal Krajewski said he learned from Pope Francis that an hour of adoration daily is crucial for him personally to “stay in the line of the Gospel— to start to think and act according to the logic of the Gospel.”
“In choosing to have adoration in St. Peter’s Square on a Tuesday, Pope Francis is sending a signal— meeting with the Pope happens on Wednesdays, during the general audience, but meeting Christ comes first,” the Cardinal added.
Krajewski led a monthly Vatican outdoor Holy Hour in 2023, making monthly Eucharistic Adoration a new normal for pilgrims visiting St. Peter’s Square. He launched the initiative in response to concerns that the basilica could become more a museum than a place of worship.
He said that as a result, St. Peter’s Basilica was “finally becoming a sanctuary, not merely a place of tourism.” Krajewski said that different people were telling Pope Francis that the basilica cannot become merely a museum and “had to be a place of prayer.”
“And the square,” he added, “in which we witnessed the funeral of St. John Paul II and recently Benedict XVI, the place in which we see the new pope for the first time, but first and foremost, a burial place for so many first Christians, must be a place of prayer.”
Days after individual private Masses were controversially henceforth banned in the St Peter’s Basilica in 2021, Krajewski continued to celebrate a private Masses for pilgrims at the altar of Pope St John Paul II.
Hope amid suffering
Cardinal Krajewski tries to bring a message of hope in places of great suffering and manages to do so with great sensitivity. During a visit to Ukraine, he noted that despite the immense suffering he witnessed, he also observed strong faith. On the same visit, he brought many rosary beads that he gave to soldiers and those fleeing the country. “We also prayed a lot,” he said.
GOVERNING OFFICE
Humanitarian Missions in Ukraine
Cardinal Krajewski has visited Ukraine several times, bringing humanitarian aid during the ongoing conflict. Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, he has delivered aid there six times, including food, medicine and other essential supplies. His missions have included delivering electric generators and thermal shirts to war-affected regions, and visiting places such as Kherson that had been devastated by the war.
Helping the Homeless in Rome
In May 2019, Krajewski drew media attention when he personally broke the seals securing electricity meters in a building occupied by some 450 people, including 100 children, in Rome. He declared that from then on he would be the one to pay the electricity bills, which amounted to some 300,000 euros. This action earned him the nickname “the Pope’s Robin Hood.”
But it caused controversy in the media, and not just because it broke the law.
The building in question was illegally managed by far-left activists who ran a tax-free businesses on the premises, including a disco that hosted homosexual rave parties. They had also used it for a drug-fueled New Year’s Eve party in Rome attended by minors and featuring Italy’s “most alternative, underground and politically queer” techno band. This led to some media questioning why the Vatican was supporting a radical far-left group that created a potentially harmful environment for families, minors and children.”
The media has repeatedly reported that Cardinal Krajewski surrounds the homeless sleeping on Rome’s streets with care. In addition to giving them material aid, he also surrounds them with spiritual care, also by celebrating their funeral masses.
Such actions demonstrate Krajewski’s genuine commitment to helping those most in need around the world, which is receiving wide media attention.
Help for Transgender Sex Workers
In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Krajewski organized help for transgender sex workers in small Roman coastline town of Torvaianica. The local parish priest told Italian media. “At the height of the coronavirus emergency,” the priest recounted, “a group of transsexuals, almost all Latin Americans, came to the church. They were asking for help because with the virus they no longer had any customers on the street.”
The priest was already helping families in need who had been affected by the Covid-19 lockdowns, and offerings were down given the ban on Masses.
He therefore had the “trans-community” send a request to Pope Francis through Cardinal Krajewski. Italian media, which widely covered the story, said Francis’ response was “immediate” and that he dispatched Krajewski to personally bring the group all the necessary aid. Through Krajewski, the group then sent Bergoglio their gratitude via an audio message in Spanish: “Many thanks to Pope Francis. May God bless you, thank you for everything. A thousand blessings. May the Virgin protect you.”
The parish priest noted that most of the community comes from Latin America: they love Bergoglio very much,” he said, adding “one of them started working on the streets when she was 14 years old. Thirty years have passed since then.”
Delivering Ambulances to Ukraine
Krajewski has repeatedly transported and donated ambulances and medicines to Ukrainian hospitals. For example, in June 2024 he delivered a third ambulance and large quantities of medicines to a hospital in the Zboriv in Ukraine’s Ternopil region. His actions were an expression of Pope Francis’ solidarity with the suffering population of Ukraine, Vatican News reported.
Pastoral Care During the Covid-Crisis
During the pandemic Cardinal Krajewski also paid a visit to two congregations of nuns in Rome who were in quarantine because some of their members had tested positive to the Covid-19 virus.
He also coordinated the Holy See’s assistance to hospitals treating Covid-19 patients, donating medical equipment, including respirators. “Prayer without mercy is incomplete,” Cardinal Krajewski said, urging everyone to donate as much as they can.
The papal almoner, through his activities, became infected with coronavirus himself, and as a result had to spend 10 days in the hospital at the end of 2020.
Migration
On the topic of migration, Cardinal Krajewski takes a similar approach to that of Pope Francis.
In October 2013, following a migrant shipwreck tragedy off the coast of Lampedusa that claimed over 350 lives, the Pope sent Krajewski to the Italian island on his behalf. For the past decades, the southernmost Italian territory off the coast of Sicily has become a prime transit point for illegal migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia wanting to enter Europe, mainly departing from the Libyan coasts. Francis made Lampedusa his first visit outside Rome after his election in 2013.
Attention to migrants has been a priority ever since. Addressing the new opening of humanitarian corridors in various European countries in 2019, Cardinal Krajewski said the Christian community is “ready” to host those seeking peace, a future, a place to raise their children.
He made the comments at the end of the mission to Lesbos, to bring the Pope’s solidarity to the migrants in the camps on the Greek island.
Krajewski then visited the migrant hot-spot of Moria, where three years earlier Francis spoke to those facing “situations of tragic and truly desperate need” and told them not to lose hope.
A year earlier, the cardinal stopped for lunch at a migrant center near Rome housing 340 asylum seekers. He brought them 1,300 ice creams and gave each of them an image of the Pope. “They are a small sign of the Holy Father’s caress for them,” the cardinal said. “I bring you greetings from this man dressed in white called Pope Francis. He is close to you and brings you his blessing.”
TEACHING OFFICE
Teaching Mercy Through Action
In June 2017, then-Archbishop Krajewski lived in his office in order to give his home to Syrian refugees.
Having learned of the arrival of a Syrian man and his pregnant wife who had found their way to Rome through the Sant’Egidio community, he gave up his apartment on Borgo Pio and moved to the top floor of the almshouse office. For the first few weeks, he lived in a room on the ground floor of the offices before moving to the top floor where he was guaranteed more privacy.
“It’s a normal thing, nothing exceptional,” Krajewski told La Repubblica, adding that there are “many priests” who make similar sacrifices. “Charity and sharing are in the DNA of the Church. Everyone is asked something according to their task. I have no family, I am a simple priest, offering my apartment costs me nothing.”
Krajewski also pointed out the works of mercy performed by the Pope’s almshouse that he oversees. “All summer our services remain open: the barber shop, the showers near the colonnade of St. Peter, the medical center, the public bathrooms,” he said. “People have needs every day of the year, and at all hours of the day. We never close. We have already started taking disabled and poor people to the bathing facilities near Polidoro on Sundays. In the evening, the day ends with a pizza all together. Simple but concrete things.”
“Pride” Marches
In 2019, he made a very rare comment to the media, about the so-called LGBTQ+ “equality” marches held in Poland — marches that drew many protests, including from the Church: “If I were a bishop there, I would just go onto the street and invite everyone to the cathedral. Jesus did the same thing,” Krajewski said. “Can you imagine what would happen on Monday? All the pious from the cathedral would come with holy water and scrub the pews.”
Although Cardinal Krajewski described bringing people from all over Poland and Europe to the march in the Polish city of Bialystok as “nonsense,” he pointed out that its participants were also part of the Church. “Whether one likes it or not, Jesus died for them, too. They need to be respected,” he said.
Consecration in Fatima
When Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in March 2022, Cardinal Krajewski led a similar act of consecration at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal at the same time as his papal legate.
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