Pope Leo XIV has ordered an apostolic visitation of the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese, the diocesan press office announced on Monday, 9 November. It will be carried out by Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski of Włocławek.
What is known about the visitation
According to the diocese’s statement, the Apostolic Nunciature in Poland has already notified the ordinary of the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese, Bishop Roman Pindel, about the visitation. Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski, chairman of the Legal Council of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, has received from the Holy See all the authorisations necessary to carry it out.
The statement is brief: no start date or scope of the visitation has been given. The curia’s spokesman, Fr Mateusz Kierczak, told Radio Kraków that the curia does not yet have detailed information.
Background: the conflict in Grojec
The decision was announced amid a dispute over the removal of the parish priest of St Lawrence’s Parish in Grojec, near Oświęcim, Fr Józef Zborek. Bishop Pindel decided to remove him on 4 October. The priest appealed to Vatican bodies which, according to reports, ultimately sided with the bishop.
On the same day, the bishop went to the church in Grojec. Hundreds of people gathered there demanding that the priest be retained. The faithful surrounded the church and prevented the ordinary, among others, from leaving it. The bishop only left the church after midnight, escorted by police.
It has not officially been stated whether the visitation is connected to the situation in Grojec, but it is the most high-profile dispute in the diocese in recent weeks.
The diocese in numbers
The Bielsko-Żywiec diocese was established in 1992 and comprises over 200 parishes. An apostolic visitation is an inspection commissioned by the Holy See and carried out by a papal delegate. Leo XIV recently met Poles at an audience – we wrote about it in our article about the Pope’s words to Poles at the audience on 4 November.
