Eugeniusz Baziak

Eugeniusz Baziak (b. March 8, 1890 in Tarnopol – June 15, 1962 in Warsaw, Poland) was Archbishop of Lwów and Apostolic Administrator of Kraków. Baziak was rector of the Clerical Seminarium in Lwów. Since 1933 he was an auxiliary bishop and, since 1944, Archbishop of Lwów. In 1951, after the death of Adam Stefan Cardinal Sapieha, he became the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese in Kraków.

In his capacity as Apostolic Administrator of Kraków, he recommended to Pope Pius XII the promotion of Father Karol Wojtyła (the future Pope John Paul II), who was then a priest in the Archdiocese of Kraków, to the office of auxiliary (assistant) bishop of that Archdiocese. It is said that this recommendation was made in so strong terms that the Holy See made the appointment without even consulting with the Primate of Poland, Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński, as was usual. Instead, Wyszyński received notice from the Vatican that he was simply to inform Father Wojtyła of the appointment, and ask him for his acceptance.

After Wojtyła accepted and the appointment was formalized by the Pope, it fell to Arcbishop Baziak to be the principal consecrator, together with Bishops Kominek and Jop, of Wojtyła as a bishop, which occurred in September 1958. Bishop Wojtyła would eventually succeed Baziak at Kraków after Baziak's death.