Posted on 10/06/2026 8:12:25 AM PDT by ebb tide
A heterodox Polish cardinal said that Catholics should read the “entire Tradition of the Church in light of” the Second Vatican Council.
On October 3, Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, archbishop of Kraków, made a series of striking remarks on the relationship between Tradition and Vatican II during an interview with Dr. Konstanty Pilawa at a session of the Jagiellonian Club’s “Theology with Wine” series. The interview was subsequently published by the Polish Catholic news outlet Gość.pl.
“One must read the entire tradition of the Church in the light of the Council’s teaching. That is how we remain within the Church,” said Ryś. “What troubles me greatly is the rejection of the Council. Today there is no shortage of attitudes that blame the Council for everything.”
“The Council was not a departure from Tradition. It was a return to that current of Tradition which is the oldest and establishes the measure,” he added.
Ryś was named a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023 and elevated to archbishop of Kraków, the former diocese of the future Pope John Paul II, by Pope Leo XIV in 2025. He is widely regarded as one of the country’s most progressive bishops and has been described as “Pope Francis’ man” in Poland.
The cardinal was asked whether a similar problem could arise among Catholics associated with an “open” or “progressive” Church, namely the tendency to identify Catholic Tradition with Vatican II while neglecting what preceded it. Ryś responded by defining the distinction primarily in terms of mercy.
READ: New archbishop of Krakow: ‘I can’t imagine any other Church than the one Pope Francis taught us’
“An open Church is a merciful Church; there is no other kind of open Church. A closed Church is an unmerciful Church,” he said.
Ryś acknowledged that the “open Church” with which he is commonly associated can itself become closed to differing opinions. He concluded the exchange by invoking the Polish philosopher and priest Józef Tischner: “Maybe you are right, but what good comes from it?”
Most notably, the cardinal discussed the revival of Catholic Action in Poland. He said that its traditional spirituality had been based on the image of Christ the King, whereas Vatican II presented Christ the Servant as a basis for developing spirituality. For this reason, he argued, Catholic Action could not simply be restored according to an earlier model without developing a new theological and spiritual framework.
Regarding allegations against Karol Wojtyła on his handling of sexual abuse cases, Ryś argued that John Paul II should not be judged exclusively according to contemporary knowledge about sexual abuse. He recalled that in 2000 the Polish Pope called the Church to examine its past, including abuses committed in the name of faith, antisemitism and contempt for women.
Ryś said that Wojtyła was “certainly a great man” but questioned whether he could reasonably have been expected to anticipate by half a century the contemporary “understanding” of sexual abuse and its prevention. He added that John Paul II demonstrated an ability to learn as he encountered the problem and developed his understanding of how the Church should respond.
Looking toward the future, Ryś said he hoped the Polish Church would increasingly function through “living, fraternal, small communities” centered on the Gospel and the Eucharist. He described this not as an inevitable consequence of declining numbers but as a conscious choice for a different model of Church life. He connected this vision to the Church’s synodal process and said that it was compatible with the idea of a “mass” or “people’s” Church.
“It doesn’t have to be the result of external circumstances. On the contrary, it should be the result of a conscious, free choice of the Church,” Ryś said.
“We are moving away from the model of the Church, which is an office, only an administration, a structure, a crowd. We are moving to the image of the Church, where everyone, because they are baptized, feels a responsibility, joins because this is their community; he is not the one who goes to church, but he is someone who creates the Church,” the cardinal concluded.
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BUMP!
I am allegedly a Catholic. But everytime I see a headline like this I think “Sola Scritura” was right.
If anything, he got it exactly backwards
I’m so tired of these elderly cardinals who think that they finally fixed the Church after 1950 years.
"To defend the true tradition of the Church today means to defend the Council... We must remain faithful to the today of the Church, not the yesterday or tomorrow. And this today of the Church is the documents of Vatican II."
"Catholic action" is a group i.e. Akcja Katolicka and I am a member -- when he says "its traditional spirituality had been based on the image of Christ the King" -- this is because Jesus was officially named as the King of Poland by Primate Stefan Wyszyński in 1951 - this was a move against the communist authorities
Catholic Action was established in the 1920s and 1930s under Pope Pius XI as the official lay apostolate of the Church. In pre-WWII Poland, it operated as a highly organized, nationwide structure under episcopal hierarchy designed to defend Catholic culture, promote the Social Kingship of Christ, and combat secularism in public life. Suppressed during the Communist era, it was re-established in Poland in the 1990s.
Cardinal Ryś was making a historical and theological point about the evolution of lay spirituality, not rejecting Christ's Kingship - this is to emphasize Christ who "came not to be served, but to serve" (Mark 10:45).
The laity are not merely foot soldiers for a political/social apparatus, but baptized disciples called to humble service, washing feet, and sanctifying the secular world from within.
Cardinal Ryś argued that trying to resurrect Catholic Action in 21st-century Poland using pre-war, top-down institutional models fails because the cultural landscape has changed. Rebuilding a vibrant lay movement requires grounding it in baptismal dignity and humble Christian service rather than nostalgia for a bygone era of political triumphalism.
And he is correct - in Poland the problems are secularization and to some extent Jehovah's witnesses. The youth however ARE staying and that is in part due to the Alpha courses and in part due to young priests engaging with them.
we have no intention of becoming a sterile environment like the west
What HE is talking about is the focus to engage the world - in the sense of the laity being more involved in the life of the church beyond participation in the Divine Liturgy and Eucharist.
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