The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Adrian Józef Galbas, S.A.C., as coadjutor archbishop of the metropolitan archdiocese of Katowice, Poland, transferring him from the titular see of Naisso and the office of auxiliary of Ełk.
Archbishop-elect Adrian Józef Galbas, S.A.C., was born on 26 January 1968 in Bytom in the diocese of Gliwice. In 1987 he was admitted to the novitiate of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines). He subsequently studied at the major seminary of the same Society in Ołtarzew, and on 7 May 7, 1994, he was ordained a priest.
After priestly ordination, he first served as vicar in the parish of Saint Michael Archangel in Łódź (1994-1995). He was then awarded a licentiate in pastoral theology from the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin (1995-2998). He went on to serve as prefect of discipline in the major seminary of the Pallottines in Ołtarzew (1998-2002), provincial counselor in Poznań (2002-2005), and parish priest of Saint Lawrence (2003-2011).
In 2012 he was awarded a doctorate in spiritual theology from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. From 2011 to 2019 he was provincial of Poznań for the Society of the Catholic Apostolate.
On December 12, 2019, he was elected to the titular see of Naisso and appointed auxiliary of the diocese of Ełk. He received episcopal consecration on 11 January 2020.
Within the Episcopal Conference, he is president of the Council for the Lay Apostolate.
He knows German well and speaks Italian, English, Spanish, and Russian.
Katowice Archidiocese was founded with Pius XI bull “Vixdum Poloniae unitas” and became part of Cracow Archdiocese. In the beginning of its existence, the diocese consisted of about 915,000. In 1992, the new administrative division of the Polish Church resulted in diminution of the Katowice Archdiocese territory: 6 deaneries became part of Gliwice Diocese (200,000 people), 8 deaneries were included in the Bielsko-Żywiecka Diocese (350,000 people). Currently, the population of the Katowice Archdiocese is 1,500,000; about 1,450,000 of them are Catholics. Katowice Archdiocese consists of 37 deaneries, 322 parishes with 1065 priests, 117 convent priests, and 935 consecrated people. 120 students are learning in the seminary.
