Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, met for 45 minutes with Pope Francis on March 28.

Archbishop Gadecki discussed the response of the Church in Poland to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and thanked Pope Francis for the March 25 consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Polish bishops’ press office added that “the Holy Father was also briefed on the difficulties caused for the universal Church by the issues raised—in the words of the Pope—by the so-called German ‘synodal way.’ Francis distances himself from this initiative.”

The meeting followed a letter from the German bishops’ president to Archbishop Gadecki in defense of the synodal way.