Archbishop of Częstochowa
Wacław Depo was born on September 27, 1953, in Szydłowiec, in the Diocese of Sandomierz. After completing his theological studies at the Sandomierz Seminary, he was ordained a priest on June 3, 1978. In 1992, following the general reorganization of ecclesiastical jurisdictions, he was incardinated into the Diocese of Radom. From 1978 to 1980, he served as a parochial vicar in Stromiec; subsequently, he studied at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lublin, where he obtained a Licentiate in Theology and, in 1984, a Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology. From 1984 to 1989, he was a lecturer in dogmatic theology and spiritual director for deacons at the seminary of the then-Diocese of Sandomierz-Radom. He was also responsible for university pastoral care at the Higher School of Engineering in Radom. In 1989, he was appointed Vice-Rector of the Major Seminary; he served as Rector of the Sandomierz-Radom Seminary from 1990 to 1992, and from 1992—following the creation of the Diocese of Sandomierz, which opened its own seminary—he served as Rector of the Major Seminary of Radom. On August 5, 2006, he was appointed Bishop of Zamość-Lubaczów and was consecrated on September 9 of that year. Within the Polish Episcopal Conference, he serves as President of the Joint Commission of Bishops and Major Religious Superiors; as a member of the Commission for the Clergy, the Section for Theological Sciences of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Commission for Mass Media; and as the Conference's delegate to the National Council of Lay Catholics.