John Paul II's Secretary Appointed Archbishop of Krakow

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 3, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI named the former personal secretary of Pope John Paul II as the new archbishop of Krakow.

Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, 66, will succeed Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, 78, who presented his resignation for reasons of age, the Vatican press office announced.

After the announcement was made today, Archbishop Dziwisz went to pray at the tomb of John Paul II.

"I feel I have been sent from the tomb of St. Peter to that of St. Stanislaw," said the archbishop in statements to Vatican Radio. The tomb of St. Stanislaw is in the cathedral of Krakow, Poland.

"And I trust profoundly that, in this trip, the Holy Father John Paul II will accompany me. Therefore, I will not be alone, but with him," he said.

"I would very much like that both the city of Krakow as well as the whole archdiocese receive me as a faithful witness of the Holy Father, whom we all so love. I have prayed precisely for this today at his tomb," the prelate said.

Stanislaw Dziwisz was born on April 27, 1939, in Raba Wyzna, in the Archdiocese of Krakow. He was ordained a priest in 1963 by the then Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow.

From 1966 to 1978 he acted as private secretary to Archbishop Wojtyla and, following the latter's election as Pope John Paul II, continued to act as his private secretary throughout his pontificate.

He was ordained a bishop by John Paul II in 1998 and elevated to the dignity of archbishop in 2003.

Archbishop Dziwisz is the author, in Polish, of a book on the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981: "I Have Touched This Mystery" (Lublin, 2001). He is vice president of the John Paul II Foundation, and recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Lublin.