Zygmunt Zimowski
| Styles of Zygmunt Zimowski |
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|---|---|
.svg) |
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| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
| Posthumous style | not applicable |
Zygmunt Zimowski (born 7 April 1949) is a Polish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 April 2009. He previously served as bishop of Radom from 2002 until his appointment in the Roman Curia. [1]
Zimowski was born in Kupienin, Poland, located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarnów, Poland. He was ordained a priest on 27 May 1973, and incardinated in Tarnów.[2] He received a Licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from the Catholic University of Lublin. He continued his studies and subsequently received his Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Faculty of Theology at the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck. On 1 February 1983 he entered the service of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he remained until elevated to the episcopate. He was appointed Chaplain of His Holiness on 14 April 1988 and Prelate of Honour on 10 July 1999.
He was Postulator of some processes of beatification and canonization. He taught ecclesiology at the Catholic University of Lublin and at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw and is the author of 120 publications, 40 pastoral letters and some books and several articles.
He participated in the preparation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and worked with the Polish section of Radio Vatican.
On 28 March 2002, Monsignor Zimowki was appointed Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Radom,[2] and was ordained in the Cathedral of Radom on 25 May 2002 by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. In the Polish Bishops' Conference, he held the following positions: President of the Episcopal Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, Member of the Permanent Council, Delegate for the Pastoral Care of Migrants Poles, Member of the Ecumenical Commission and the Group for Contacts with the Polish Ecumenical Council, Member of the group of Bishops for the Pastoral Care for Radio Maria, and Member of the Polish Society of Mariology.
He remained as Bishop of Radom until his appointment as the President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers in 2009. He was at the same time raised to the dignity of Titular Archbishop.[2] In addition to his native Polish, Archbishop Zimowski speaks Italian, German, English, French and Russian.
In January 2011 Archbishop Zimowski said that "Leprosy, in fact, after the upgrading of effective pharmacological therapies, witnessed a notable reduction of the lethal infection, but continues to cause suffering, diminution and social exclusion. Flourishing around it are ignorance, inequality and discrimination that, in turn, fuel its diffusion". He noted that from a statistical point of view, the countries that are most affected are in Asia, South America and Africa. India has the greatest number of affected people, followed by Brazil. Numerous cases are recorded also in Angola, Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal and Tanzania. He said that "Hansen's disease is an 'ancient' illness, but, because of this, no less devastating physically and also morally," Archbishop Zimowski reflected. "In all ages and civilizations, the fate of the leprosy sufferer is marginalization, being deprived of any type of social life, condemned to seeing his body disintegrate until death comes."[3]
On 4 May 2011, Pope Benedict appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The five year term will be renewed until his 80th birthday.
On Wednesday, May 18, 2011, according to an online story by Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service (<<http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101962.htm>>), Archbishop Zimowski gave a speech to the annual assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, saying "global solidarity is needed so that every country can guarantee all of its citizens have access to health care...Archbishop Zimowski called on the international community to increase funding to the world's poorest countries so they could step up prevention and treatment programs...".
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b c "Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bzimowski.html. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ Vatican Official: Leprosy Still Needs Attention
| Preceded by Jan Chrapek |
Bishop of Radom 28 March 2002—18 April 2009 |
Succeeded by Henryk Tomasik |
| Preceded by Javier Cardinal Lozano Barragán |
President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers 18 April 2009—present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
