Kraków was John Paul II’s diocese. Now a trans activist helps plan its future

The Archdiocese of Krakow released its Report of Synodal Work, marking the conclusion of the first stage of the Second Pastoral Synod. Both were influenced by 54-year-old trans activist Maria Minakowska (born Marek Jerzy Minakowski). The document proposes creating pastoral “safe havens” for LGBTQ+ individuals modeled on the ecumenical association “Wiara i Tęcza” (“Faith and Rainbow”). It also calls for open dialogue with modernist ideology, respect for individual conscience regardless of choices, and rejection of both traditional norms and “stigmatizing” language, such as calling gender ideology a “plague.”

The Krakow Synod is led by Grzegorz Ryś, who was created a cardinal by Francis on September 30, 2023. He was appointed Archbishop of Krakow by Pope Leo XIV on November 26, 2025.

“This is undoubtedly a great ‘success’ for gender ideology, right at the very beginning of the Second Synod of Krakow, but certainly not the last, which is why it may go down in history as the First Polish Rainbow Synod,” Father Dariusz Oko, a philosophy professor at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, said in a commentary published on TV Republika.

“[This is] because if you accept the arch-atheistic gender ideology, then most of Catholic teaching on man and marriage must immediately be thrown into the trash.”

The Polish synodal report contains problematic recommendations, beginning with the proposal to establish “pastoral safe havens” modeled on the “Faith and Rainbow” organization.

“Faith and Rainbow” is an association of homosexual and gender-confused people seeking to reconcile their sexual orientation or gender identity with Christian faith. According to Fr. Oko, its leaders advocate that the Catholic Church conform its moral teachings to modern sexual inclinations, rather than call believers to conform to divine revelation, including the commandments.

The controversy surrounding “Faith and Rainbow” is further amplified by the prominent role given to Maria Minakowska as secretary of the synodal team affiliated with the organization. Minakowska, a biological male who was divorced from his wife in 2024, underwent voluntary castration in January 2025 and identifies as a trans woman. The father of one has become the primary “media face” of the Synod.

“I am changing the Church from inside,” Minakowska said.

Another major point of contention is the document’s call for “true respect for human conscience” and its insistence that personal dignity must always rank above “excluding structures and harmful stereotypes.”

However, according to traditional Catholic theology, conscience must be formed in accordance with objective moral truth; thus, respecting conscience regardless of its decisions means legitimizing lifestyles that involve permanent mortal sin, such as cohabitation, polyamory, or non-marital sexual practice. Framing traditional moral rules and Catholic commandments as “excluding structures and harmful stereotypes” denigrates authentic Church teachings on chastity and marriage.

The report’s recommendation to engage in an “open, honest dialogue with contemporary human sciences” is likewise deeply problematic. Under the guise of scientific dialogue, the document encourages the uncritical adoption of secular gender and queer theories, which claim that biological sex is a fluid cultural construct.

Finally, the report explicitly demands an end to using words like “zaraza” (“plague”) when referring to gender ideology. Fr. Oko read this reference as a direct attack on the former Archbishop of Łódź, Marek Jędraszewski, who famously used the term “rainbow plague” to warn against the dangers of gender ideology on August 1, 2019.

“Our land is thankfully no longer affected by the red plague, but this does not mean there is no new danger that wants to enslave our souls, our hearts and our minds. Not Marxist, not Bolshevik, but born of the same spirit: neo-Marxist. Not red, but rainbow,” Jędraszewski had said.

Although Cardinal Ryś rarely speaks about gender theory, he has long been open to discussing it.   In a 2013 article published in the left-wing Polish Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny, he raised three questions that reveal willingness to bend Catholic teaching on sexuality: the role of culture in shaping masculinity and femininity, the risk of reducing culture to limiting stereotypes, and above all how to put into practice Pope Francis’s encouragement to a patient and non-judgmental dialogue with “LGBT Catholics.”

The late Pope John Paul II, then known as Karol Wojtyła, was appointed the Archbishop of Kraków in 1963, a role he continued until 1978, when he was elected Pope. Throughout his life, his writings and teachings supported Catholic doctrine on marriage, sexuality and the family.