Henryk Gulbinowicz

Henryk Roman Gulbinowicz was born on 17 October 1923 in Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). He grew up in Szukiszki (Šukiškės). He entered the archdiocesan seminary where he completed his secondary studies, upon being transferred to Białystok.

Archbishop Romuald Jalbrzykowski ordained him as a priest on 18 June 1950,{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgulb.html|website= Catholic Hierarchy |first=David M. |last=Cheney |title=Henryk Roman Cardinal Gulbinowicz| accessdate=26 July 2018}}{{Self-published source|date=July 2018}} and he was an associate pastor at Szudzialowo. After a year of parish experience, he was sent to Lublin to continue his preparation in theology at the Catholic University of Lublin. He earned a doctorate in moral theology in 1955. From 1956 to 1959 he was university chaplain in Białystok. He then taught in the seminary at Warmia, while also working in the diocesan Curia of Olsztyn.{{cite web| title= Gulbinowicz, Henryk Roman | website=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Biographical Dictionary (1903–2009) | url=http://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1985.htm#Gulbinowicz | accessdate=26 July 2018 | first=Salvador | last= Miranda}}{{Self-published source|date=July 2018}}

On 12 January 1970, Pope Paul VI appointed him titular Bishop of Acci and made him apostolic administrator of the Polish section of the Archdiocese of Vilnius (Białystok). The following 8 February he received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

On 3 January 1976, he became Archbishop of Wrocław.

A few days before martial law was imposed in 1981, the local Solidarity union branch withdrew from its bank account 80 million zlotys, the equivalent of today's USD $100 million, and deposited the cash with Gulbinowicz, who hid it from the communist regime during Solidarity's delegalisation.{{cite news |last1=Sierakowski |first1=Slawomir |title=Lessons From Poland's Past |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/opinion/slawomir-sierakowski-lessons-from-polands-past.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=31 July 2014}}

On 25 May 1985 Gulbinowicz was created cardinal by John Paul II.{{cite news |last1=Dionne |first1=E.J. |title=John Paul Names 28 New Cardinals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/25/world/john-paul-names-28-new-cardinals.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=25 April 1985}}{{cite news |last1=Dionne |first1=E.J. |title=New 'Princes of the Church' |agency=UPI |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/26/world/new-princes-of-the-church.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=26 May 1985}}

He was recognized as a voice of the moderate wing of the church in Poland. Where Cardinal Glemp of Warsaw warned priests against involvement with Solidarity, Gulbinowicz intervened with the Communist government on behalf of striking railway repair yard workers.{{cite news |last1=Tagliabue |first1=John |title=In Poland's Walkouts, The Church Is Broker |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/28/weekinreview/the-world-in-poland-s-walkouts-the-church-is-broker.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=28 August 1988}} In 1985 he identified the Church closely with Lech Wałęsa's leadership and told crowds of union-supporting pilgrims "Hang in there, as we are hanging in".{{cite news |last1=Kaufman |first1=Michael T. |title=Workers Hear Praise form Polish Clerics for Solidarity's Aims |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/16/world/workers-hear-praise-from-polish-clerics-for-solidarity-s-aims.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=16 September 1985}} A year later he told a similar crowd: "Only the right to organize independent organizations will enable Poland to overcome the severe political and economic crises troubling this country."{{cite news |last1=Kaufman |first1=Michael T. |title=Activists in Poland Reaffirm Ideals at Rally |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/22/world/activists-in-poland-reaffirm-ideals-at-a-rally.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=22 September 1986}} At a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, he counselled patience with the post-Soviet government's attempts to rebuild Poland's economy and political institutions. He said "every thinking person in Poland understands that the good toward which the nation is moving must be paid for at the beginning with sacrifices.... Some laughed at our ideals, and even at the people who were faithful to those ideals" and said that Solidarity had proved faithful to its principles.{{cite news |title=Vocally, Poles Commemorate the Soviet Invasion | first=John | last=Tagliabue|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/18/world/vocally-poles-commemorate-the-soviet-invasion.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=18 September 1989}} He also avoided Glemp's "nationalist tones". When he welcomed the Pope to Wrocław, he spoke of tolerance and said the city was the work of various nationalities and religions over the centuries.{{cite news |last1=Perlez |first1=Jane |title=Pope's Visit Underlines New Church In Poland |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/08/world/pope-s-visit-underlines-new-church-in-poland.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=New York Times |date=8 June 1997}}

Pope John Paul accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Wrocław on 3 April 2004, when he was thought to be 75 years old, the age at which bishops are required to submit their resignations. It then transpired that in 1942, as a young man, Gulbinowicz had falsified his birth records to escape being sent to a labor camp in Germany, listing the year of his birth as 1928 instead of 1923. Though the falsification suggested he was ordained a priest at a very young age, his correct age only became public in 2004 when an Italian newspaper noted that John Paul had accepted his resignation as Bishop of Wrocław at the age of 80, not 75.{{cite news |title=Le dimissioni di Gulbinowicz |url= http://www.30giorni.it/in_breve_id_numero_109_id_arg_32125_l1.htm |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=30 Giorni |date= 2004 |language = it |url-status = live| archive-date= 27 July 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180727103228/http://www.30giorni.it/in_breve_id_numero_109_id_arg_32125_l1.htm}} 30 Giorni gave as its source an article published in Il Messagero on 4 April 2004 by Vatican expert {{ill|Orazio Petrosillo|it}}. In 2005, with the end of Pope John Paul's life approaching, the birth-year discrepancy became more important and was published more widely. Had Gulbinowicz been born in 1928, he would be eligible to participate in a conclave to select John Paul's successor. With the correction, it was seen that he was past his 80th birthday and ineligible.{{cite news|date= 10 February 2005 | title=Vatican Corrects Cardinal's Date of Birth|url=https://zenit.org/articles/vatican-corrects-cardinal-s-date-of-birth/|work= Zenit |accessdate=26 July 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Bedoya |first1=Juan G. |title=Arrepentimiento tardío | language=es |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2005/02/12/ultima/1108162801_850215.html |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=El País |date=12 February 2005}} Gulbinowicz told the Catholic Information Agency (Poland) that many of his peers employed this strategy and that after the war no one thought it necessary to restore his true birthdate to his documents. He said that his superiors had known the truth from the time he entered the seminary and that John Paul had known from before he became Pope.{{cite news|language=pl| accessdate=27 July 2018| date= 6 February 2005 | url-status=live | archive-date= 20 April 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140420081057/http://system.ekai.pl/kair/?screen=depesza&_scr_depesza_id_depeszy=344621 |url= http://system.ekai.pl/kair/?screen=depesza&_scr_depesza_id_depeszy=344621 | title= Kard. Gulbinowicz polemizuje z doniesieniami włoskiego dziennika | trans-title=Card. Gulbinowicz disputes the reports in the Italian daily | agency= Katolicka Agencja Informacyjna [Catholic Information Agency] }} The Catholic Information Agency cited an article in Il Messagero published on 27 January 2005. The correct birth date was printed in the Pontifical Yearbook presented to John Paul on 31 January 2005.{{efn|Even in Poland his birth year was thought to be 1928 as late as October 2003, when he was reported to have reached the normal retirement age of 75.{{cite news|work=Gazeta Wyborcza |title=Kardynał Henryk Gulbinowicz przechodzi na emeryturę | trans-title= Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz is retiring |date= 10 October 2003 | url= https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kard-gulbinowicz-przechodzi-na-emeryture-6036711455347329a |accessdate=26 July 2018 |language=pl| url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180727135339/https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kard-gulbinowicz-przechodzi-na-emeryture-6036711455347329a | archive-date= 27 July 2018 |quote= Metropolitan Archbishop of Wroclaw Card. Henryk Gulbinowicz is retiring. On October 17 the cardinal reaches the age of 75 years and in accordance with church law should leave his position.}}}}

He was the author of a number of works in the new area of moral and doctrinal theology and on the formation of the clergy.

On 6 November 2020, the Holy See's Nuncio to Poland announced that following a Vatican investigation regarding sex abuse allegations against Gulbinowicz, Gulbinowicz was now "barred from any kind of celebration or public meeting and from using his episcopal insignia, and is deprived of the right to a cathedral funeral and burial." He was ordered to pay "an appropriate sum" to his alleged victims.

Gulbinowicz died on 16 November 2020 at 10:40 AM, 10 days after the ruling against him was given, after having fallen unconscious in hospital.{{cite news | url = https://www.catholicnews.com/papal-nuncio-in-poland-announces-cardinals-ban-from-public-ministry/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201106180015/https://www.catholicnews.com/papal-nuncio-in-poland-announces-cardinals-ban-from-public-ministry/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 6 November 2020 | access-date = 13 November 2020 | publisher = Catholic News Agency | date = 6 November 2020| title = Banned Polish cardinal unconscious in hospital }}{{cite news |title=Kard. Gulbinowicz skazany za czyny pedofilskie i współpracę SB |url=https://oko.press/watykan-skazal-gulbinowicza/ |accessdate=10 November 2020 |work=oko.press}} He was admitted to hospital in Wrocław on 10 November. He died due to respiratory and circulatory failure after having acute pneumonia. His body was cremated and the ashes buried on 23 November in secrecy at his family's tomb at Olsztyn, where his parents were buried.{{cite web|url=https://www.onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/gulbinowicz-henryk-nie-zyje-kardynal-mial-97-lat/2qb37rw,79cfc278|title=Zmarł kardynał Henryk Gulbinowicz. Miał 97 lat|date=16 November 2020|publisher=Onet|accessdate=26 November 2020}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Henryk Gulbinowicz}}

• {{cite web| accessdate = 9 November 2017| title= Gulbinowicz Card. Henryk Roman |publisher= Holy See Press Office | url= https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_gulbinowicz_hr.html | url-status=live | archive-date= 4 September 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170904070608/http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_gulbinowicz_hr.html }}

{{s-start}}

{{s-rel|ca}}

|-

{{s-non|reason=New title}}

{{s-ttl|title=Titular Bishop of Acci|years=12 January 1970 – 3 January 1976}}

{{s-aft|after=Giuse Phan Văn Hoa}}

{{s-bef|before=Władysław Suszyński}}

{{s-ttl|title=Apostolic Administrator of Vilnius|years=12 January 1970 – 3 January 1976}}

{{s-aft|after=Edward Kisiel}}

{{s-bef|before=Bolesław Kominek}}

{{s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Wrocław|years=3 January 1976 – 3 April 2004}}

{{s-aft|after=Marian Gołębiewski}}

{{s-non|reason=New title}}

{{s-ttl|title=Cardinal-Priest of Immacolata Concezione di Maria a Grottarossa|years=25 May 1985 – 16 November 2020}}

{{s-aft|after=Wilton Daniel Gregory}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulbinowicz, Henryk Roman}}

Category:1923 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:Archbishops of Wrocław

Category:Bishops of Białystok

Category:21st-century Polish cardinals

Category:Clergy from Vilnius

Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II

Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis

Category:Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Poland

Category:20th-century Polish cardinals

Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)