Veteran papal secretary to become Archbishop of Lviv

Marian Cardinal Jaworski

Function: Archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine

Title: Cardinal Priest of San Sisto

Birthdate: Aug 21, 1926	Country: Ukraine

Elevated: Feb 21, 1998	More information: www.catholic-hierarchy.org

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Veteran papal secretary to become Archbishop of Lviv
Jul 17, 2007
Pope Benedict XVI has named his longtime personal secretary, Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, to become the coadjutor Archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine. He will be in line to succeed Cardinal Marian Jaworski as the leader of the Latin-rite Catholic Church in Ukraine.

Vatican, Jul. 16, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI has named his longtime personal secretary, Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, to become the coadjutor Archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine. He will be in line to succeed Cardinal Marian Jaworski as the leader of the Latin-rite Catholic Church in Ukraine.

Archbishop-elect Mokrzycki, a native of Poland, was ordained in 1987 and came to Rome to serve as the assistant personal secretary to Pope John Paul II; he has remained to serve on the staff of Pope Benedict.

During his tenure as the second personal secretary to two Pontiffs, the quiet Polish cleric has generally escaped public notice, while attention has been fixed on the first secretaries: first Msgr. (now Cardinal) Stanislaw Dziwisz, who is now Archbishop of Krakow; and now Msgr. Georg Ganswein, the German priest who was brought into the apostolic palace by Pope Benedict.

However, both of the Popes under whom he served have reportedly come to rely on the efficiency and discretion of Msgr. Mokrzycki. He accompanied Pope John Paul through his final illness and was at the Pontiff's bedside when he died. He slipped easily into position on Pope Benedict's primary secretary and became the Pope's main aide when Msgr. Ganswein took vacation. And the Holy Father disclosed that Msgr. Mokrzycki had helped him sharpen his Polish-language skills before an appearance on the Polish arm of Vatican Radio.

Cardinal Jaworksi, who is nearing his 81st birthday, has been the head of the Lviv archdiocese since 1984, when he was appointed as apostolic administrator. He was formally named Archbishop in 1991, after the fall of the country's Communist regime. In 1998 he was named a cardinal in pectore by Pope John Paul II, and in 2001 the late Pope made the first public announcement of that status.

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