THE EXTRAORDINARY envoy of Pope Benedict the XVI to the Quadricentennial celebrations, Archbishop Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education in April 2005. His post is responsible for almost 1,000 Catholic universities, 150 theological departments, as well as more than 3,000 seminaries all over the world.
Born in Brodki, Poland on October 11, 1939, Grocholewski was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Pozna? on May 27, 1963. He worked at Christ the Redeemer Parish in Pozna? for three years before earning a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Grocholewski, who became titular archbishop of Acropolis in December 21, 1982, rose from the ranks of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority of the Church (aside from Pope himself). He became notary, chancellor, secretary, and prefect at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura from 1972 to 1999.
A canon law educator at the Gregorian and Lateran Universities and the Studio Rotale, he was one of those who studied the draft of the 1983 Code of Canon Law together with the Pope.
Cardinal Grocholewski is grand chancellor of the Pontifical Gregorian University. He remains a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, the Special Council for Oceania of the Secretariat General of the Synod of Bishops, and the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, for Bishops, for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, and for the Evangelization of Peoples.
As official representative of Pope Benedict XVI, Grocholewski, at the Thanksgiving Mass of January 28, occupied the papal chair used by Pope John Paul II in his historic visit to the University for the World Youth Day festivities in 1995, signifying UST’s special connection to the See of Peter. Camille Anne M. Arcilla
