July 16, 2016

Polish theologian, head of Vatican office for health care ministry, dies

World
By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

(CNS photo/Paul Haring) By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Hannah Green contributed to this story

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Polish Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, died July 13 at the age of 67.

Having been ill for some time, the archbishop was convalescing in Poland, where he died; Pope Francis had telephoned him recently to express his support and prayers, Vatican Radio reported July 13.

The archbishop had received treatment for pancreatic cancer at the end of 2014 in Warsaw before returning back to work at the Vatican in 2015. 

In a telegram offering his condolences, Pope Francis praised the archbishop’s “generous ministry” and the way he live a long, painful illness “with spirit of faith and Christian testimony.”

 Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of the Diocese of Springfield, who visited with the archbishop earlier this year, added that, “Archbishop Zimowski was deeply dedicated to the care of the sick and those who tended to them. He had a great empathy for those who struggled with illness and was courageous as he faced his own battle with pancreatic cancer.”

Born in Kupienin, Poland, April 7, 1949, Archbishop Zimowski was ordained a priest in 1973. He later earned a degree in dogmatic theology. 

As a young boy, the future archbishop served beside Father Stanley Sokol, of Immaculate Conception Church in Springfield, as an altar server in their home parish in Poland. Father Sokol explained that the two attended the same elementary school, high school, and seminary, although Archbishop Zimowski was several years older than Father Sokol. Sokol said that while Archbishop Zimowski was born in Poland, his grandfather, a Polish immigrant, lived in western Massachusetts until the 1930s when the Great Depression hit. The family then returned to Poland where both Zimowski and his father were born.

Zimowski’s grandfather was a founding member of Immaculate Conception Church in Indian Orchard, a church Archbishop Zimowski never failed to visit when his travels brought him to the United States. The archbishop’s final visit to Immaculate Conception was last October, when he presided as the main celebrant of a Mass commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the church.

Archbishop Zimowski held a series of positions before he began his work for the Vatican. He worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1983 to 2002. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, headed the office at that time. Among the projects he worked on there was the Polish edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

St. John Paul appointed him to head the Diocese of Radom in 2002, and it was Cardinal Ratzinger who ordained him a bishop in a Mass in the cathedral of Radom. 

As bishop of Radom, he held a number of important positions in the Polish bishops’ conference. He was president of the bishops’ doctrinal commission, a delegate for Polish emigrants, a member of the ecumenical commission and part of a group overseeing Radio Maryja.

In 2009, Pope Benedict appointed him president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, an office that promotes activities to help church agencies and individuals who serve the sick and suffering. Its work often overlaps with doctrinal questions, especially regarding bioethics and life issues in medical treatment.

Under his tenure, the council helped organize a number of international conferences dealing with current concerns such as care for people with autism spectrum disorders; the relationship between human health and care for the planet; care for the elderly afflicted with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases; and the importance of St. John Paul’s teachings on the culture of life.

“He was able to sponsor and to build all types of institutions through his work, his dedication, and his sponsorship,” said Father Sokol.

“His motto says it all,” he added, “I did not come to be served, but to serve.”