Franciszek Macharski (born 20 May 1927 in Kraków, died 2 August 2016 in Kraków) - Polish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the Archbishop of Kraków from 1978, succeeding Karol Wojtyła to the chair of St. Stanisław, until his resignation in 2005. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1979.

Life

Franciszek was born the youngest of four children in 1927. During World War II he worked as a menial laborer and afterward entered the seminary in Kraków, where he also studied theology. He was ordained as a priest in April 1950 by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. Until 1956 he was a vicar in a parish near Bielsko-Biała and was then transferred to Fribourg, Switzerland to continue his theological studies. He received his doctorate in 1960.

Father Macharski was appointed Archbishop of Kraków in December 1978 by Pope John Paul II, who had been Archbishop of that city himself until his election to the Papacy in October 1978. Macharski was consecrated as a Bishop by John Paul II himself at the Vatican on 6 January 1979 and took possession of the Archdiocese of Kraków on 28 January 1979, when he was installed at Wawel Cathedral.

Died on 2 August 2016 in hospital in Kraków.

Appointments

Archbishop Macharski was created Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni a Porta Latina as his titular church in June 1979, the first consistory of the new pope. This was a mere six months after his episcopal consecration.

He was a member of the cardinal electors of the 2005 papal conclave that elected Joseph Alois Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. He turned 80 in May 2007 and as a result passed the maximum age for voting in the conclave.

Cardinal Macharski retired as Archbishop of Kraków on 3 June 2005. Upon his resignation being accepted, he became Archbishop emeritus of Kraków, and was succeeded in that See by Pope John Paul II's private Secretary, now Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.