Grzegorz Ryś

Cardinal Ryś is regarded as doctrinally orthodox, and he has described celibacy as a matter of 'tradition and discipline' that he personally supports. In a 2019 television interview, he said LGBT people are not excluded from the Church and that pastoral care should start from the person and the good God is doing in their life rather than from moral principles alone. This pastoral emphasis set him apart from the harder line of much of the Polish episcopate; no public statement of his on Fiducia Supplicans has been found.

No public statement by Cardinal Ryś on the traditional Latin Mass or Traditionis Custodes has been found. A Church historian, he centres his preaching on Scripture, Church history and the interior life, and he is a member of the Dicastery for Divine Worship. His liturgical stance is therefore considered moderate or unknown.

Cardinal Ryś is known for his closeness to the poor: in 2020 he took homeless people on a diocesan pilgrimage to Rome and gave them front-row seats to see the pope. He has backed Pope Francis's call for peace in Ukraine, saying that 'the winning of the war is not the peace'. He has also warned against the Church relying on political power, criticising election campaigning at Jasna Góra in 2023.

Cardinal Ryś is one of Pope Francis's most outspoken supporters in Poland, saying in 2023 that the pope's critics treat him 'completely unjustly' on the basis of phrases taken out of context. Francis named him to the Dicastery for Bishops, personally invited him to the synod on synodality and created him a cardinal in 2023. He promotes a synodal, missionary Church as a remedy for 'clerical narcissism'. In November 2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed him Archbishop of Kraków.

Cardinal Ryś is one of the leading Polish voices in Catholic-Jewish dialogue and has chaired the Polish bishops' council for religious dialogue and committee for dialogue with Judaism. In January 2024 he received the 'Menorah of Dialogue' award, saying that true conversation can lead to one's own conversion and that 'this is the essence of dialogue'. In 2025 he was honoured with the Fr Stanisław Musiał Prize for a 2023 book critically examining the Church's historical attitude to Jews and Judaism.

Cardinal Ryś is known in Poland for his 'human approach', his ability to listen and his keen sense of humour. He regularly gives interviews to Polish and international media and held a press conference on clerical abuse, pledging to reach out to victims. His language is direct and fresh, speaking of a Church of 'we' against 'clerical narcissism'.