In 2020, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference, asked Pope Francis to declare Pope St. John Paul II patron of Europe and doctor of the Church, and asked the world’s bishops to support the initiative.

Later that year, Archbishop Gadecki said that the Vatican Secretariat of State had replied that “it is not generally envisaged at this time to confer the title of Doctor of the Church even on such authors who have had a significant influence on the teaching and development of doctrine.”