Quick Facts
Biography
Konrad Krajewski (born 25 November 1963) is a Polish archbishop of the Catholic Church. He was a papal master of ceremonies from 1998 to 2013. In 2013 he was appointed Papal Almoner.
Life
Krajewski was born in Łódź, Poland. In 1982 he entered the diocesan seminary of Łódź. He earned a degree in theology from the Catholic University of Lublin and was ordained a priest on 11 June 1988. He worked in the diocese for two years in pastoral work.
In 1990 Krajewski continued his studies at the Liturgical Institute of St. Anselmo in Rome. On 5 March 1993 he obtained his Licentiate in Sacred Liturgy. Krajewski earned a Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in 1995 with a dissertation entitled L'ordinazione episcopale nella riforma del Concilio Vaticano II (Episcopal ordination in the reform of Vatican II). During his stay in Rome Krajewski collaborated with the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
He returned to his diocese in 1995 and served as master of ceremonies for the archbishop and taught liturgy at the seminary and to the Franciscans and Salesians. In 1998 he returned to Rome to work in the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. On 12 May 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed him a Papal Master of Ceremonies.
In 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Almoner of His Holiness and Titular Archbishop of Beneventum. He was consecrated on 17 September 2013 by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello with Archbishop Piero Marini and Bishop Władysław Ziólek as co-concecrators. Pope Francis attended the consecration.
On the Pope's behalf, the almoner carries out acts of charity and raising the money to fund them. Krajewski's office funds its work by papal blessings on parchment with a photograph of the pope, which the faithful can obtain for a particular occasion — say a wedding, baptism or priestly ordination — with the name of the recipient and an apostolic blessing written in calligraphy. All proceeds go directly to the works of charity. In 2012, the office spent 1 million Euro (US$1.4 million) on 6,500 requests for help.
Krajewski described how Francis has redefined the little-known office of papal almoner: "The Holy Father told me at the beginning: 'You can sell your desk. You don't need it. You need to get out of the Vatican. Don't wait for people to come ringing. You need to go out and look for the poor'", Krajewski said. Requests for aid that the pope receives are delivered to the almoner daily, sometimes accompanied with notations in the pope's hand. Archbishop Krajewski has visited homes for the elderly and set funds to the needy. He spent four days on the island of Lampedusa after a migrant boat carrying Eritreans capsized, He also prayed with police divers as they worked to raise the dead from the sea floor. In June 2015 Archbishop Krajewski announced plans for a 30-bed, volunteer-run dormitory for the homeless. Krajewski said the entire initiative was aimed at "giving people their dignity". It opened in October 2015.