Eximiae devotionis affectus... with these words Pope Boniface IX began his papal Bull of 11 January 1397, and the history of our university. This document was a positive response to the request of King Ladislaus Jagiello and his wife Queen Jadwiga, who wanted to establish the Faculty of Theology at the University of Kraków. The solemn nature of this decision is emphasized in the concluding sentences of the document: “No man shall be permitted to break this charter of Our decree, resolution and bestowal, or to defy it with audacious obstinacy. And if anyone would dare to do so, let him know that he is acting against Almighty God and His holy Apostles Peter and Paul.” The unique position of the Faculty of Theology and its elite character was emphasized once again – three years later – on 26 July 1400. It was then that the foundation act of the renewed University of Kraków was issued, which listed the Faculty of Theology in the first place.

As intended by Queen Jadwiga, King Ladislaus and Pope Boniface, the Faculty developed its students in wisdom, faith and patriotism for hundreds of years. Over the period 1400–1939, professors of the faculty were actively involved in the work of Christianizing Lithuania. Thanks to their speeches at the Councils of Constance and Basel, the Faculty gained fame and renown not only in Poland, but also beyond its borders, which meant that the rectors of the Kraków university came primarily from the ranks of theologians. For example, Saint Joseph Sebastian Pelczar and Father Konstanty Michalski CM. Later, after surviving the period of partitions and the nation regaining its independence in 1918, the faculty, boasting outstanding professors and the largest number of students in Poland, was one of the main centers of Polish theological thought and helped in the process of rebuilding an independent Poland. Alumni of this faculty were among the academic staff of almost all Polish theological faculties and many seminaries.

This period of more than five hundred years of patient, peaceful building of the faculty was brutally interrupted. This time of trial was brought to the faculty in the 20th century, a time in which two totalitarian regimes were not afraid to “act against Almighty God and His holy Apostles Peter and Paul.” The first manifestation of such activity was the “Sonderaktion Krakau” operation: "On 6 November 1939, professors of the Jagiellonian University gathered in the Collegium Novum to hear a lecture by SS-Obersturmbannführer Bruno Müller entitled: The attitude of the German Reich and National Socialism towards science and universities, which had been announced for that day, at 12 noon. After the professors had gathered, the building was cordoned off by the SS, Gestapo and police, and B. Müller announced to the assembled that they were under arrest. On that day, a total of 183 people were arrested in Collegium Novum". Among these 183 detainees were also a group of professors from the Faculty of Theology. In the following years of the war, successive professors of the faculty were detained and imprisoned by the Nazis in concentration camps. However, despite numerous persecutions and personnel losses caused by the occupier's activities, secret teaching was tirelessly conducted so that the memory, faith and patriotism of the Polish nation would not be lost among the youth.

In the post-war years, despite the admirable attitude of the faculty's professors, it faced further persecution by the communist regime. Council of Ministers Resolution No. 594 of 11 August 1954, in the first paragraph, decided that: "The Faculty of Catholic Theology is being separated from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, which (...) will continue its activities within the Theological Academy in Warsaw". This provoked huge opposition from the Holy See, which openly criticized the resolution in L'Osservatore Romano. Opposition was also expressed by the professors of the faculty, who wanted to stay in Kraków and continue the beautiful tradition of the faculty. As a result of the protests and in spite of the repression of the Communist Security Office, the faculty actually remained in Kraków. However, it was forced to limit its activities only to the training of seminarians preparing to receive the sacrament of priestly ordination. This state of existence of the faculty was confirmed by the Holy See with the Decree of the Congregation for Seminaries and University Studies of 16 December 1959, in which it stated beyond any doubt: “The Faculty of Theology, in accordance with its establishment and character, remains under the direction of a single ecclesiastical authority and is to be formed for the future in accordance with the laws established by the Holy See.”

The future of the faculty, announced in the Decree, came about thanks to the person of Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II. It was he, as Cardinal Metropolitan of Kraków, who initiated efforts to have the Faculty of Theology reinstated by the authorities of the Polish communist authorities. On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Queen Jadwiga's birth – in 1974 – Cardinal Wojtyła addressed an open letter to the Prime Minister of the government of the People's Republic of Poland and to the then Pope Paul VI. As a result of these efforts, the faculty was granted the honoured title of Pontifical Faculty of Theology, which dispelled any doubts about its jurisdiction. When, as a result of the conclave on 16 October 1978, Kraków's Cardinal Karol Wojtyła became the successor to Saint Peter, he did not cease to be interested in the fate of Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Kraków. On the contrary, an increasingly ambitious plan for its development began to emerge. This was indicated, for example, on 9 June 1979 when, at a meeting of the Council of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology, he uttered the following words: “Specialization in the field of Church history is fully justified precisely in Kraków, which has a special resource of sources in this field in Poland. That is why the Holy See will certainly support efforts aimed at establishing this specialization at the University of Kraków. Work had already been initiated in this regard, as demonstrated by the establishment of the Institute of Church History by the Pontifical Faculty of Theology. My own earlier intentions are fully in line with the establishment of this specialization, similar to the philosophical specialization in the form of a third faculty within the University of Kraków. Please continue your efforts in this direction.”

Legally, these plans were realized two years later. In the “Beata Hedvigis” motu proprio announced on 8 December 1981, John Paul II decided to establish the Pontifical Academy of Theology (PAT) in place of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology, which was to comprise three faculties: Theology, Philosophy and Church History. Over a year later, PAT began its activities, despite harassment from the Security Service and press censorship, which until 1987 removed the name “Pontifical Academy of Theology” from the media. The university gained state recognition only on 30 June 1989, when the Polish Episcopal Conference signed an agreement with the authorities of the Polish People's Republic, resulting from five years of negotiations - an agreement on the regulation of the status of papal universities and the procedure and scope of state recognition of academic degrees and titles awarded by these universities.

The final milestone on the long and difficult road from the medieval Faculty of Theology, through the Pontifical Faculty of Theology and the Pontifical Academy of Theology, to the modern Pontifical University of John Paul II was the document issued by Pope Benedict XVI on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on 19 June 2009. On this day, as stated in the Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education: “Acceding to the requests of His Eminence Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków, Pope Benedict XVI, in honor of the memory of his illustrious predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II, has decided to elevate the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków to the status of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków for the advancement of ecclesiastical studies, decreeing that its organization fully and faithfully comply with ecclesiastical norms, above all the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana and the Regulations accompanying it, granting and conferring upon it the rights and obligations which, in accordance with canon law, are vested in legally established ecclesiastical universities, subject to other legal principles which must be observed, notwithstanding any contrary provisions. Pope Benedict XVI has thus placed Poland in the narrow and elite group of thirty countries that have the honor of having a university with the rank of Pontifical University.

1. Documents
   1. The founding charter of the University of Kraków dated 26 July 1400.
   2. Bull of Boniface IX, Eximiae devotionis affectus of 11 January 1397.
   3. Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education of 19 June 2009.
   4. Decree of the Congregation for Seminaries and University Studies of 16 December 1959.
   5. Motu proprio by John Paul II, Beata Hedvigis of 8 December 1981.
   6. Council of Ministers Resolution No. 594 of 11 August 1954.
2. Scientific publications
   1. Barcik Mieczysław, Wydział Teologiczny Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego (Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University) (1939–1954), Kraków 2001.
   2. Górny Wojciech, Wokół akcji AB w Krakowie (About the AB Action in Kraków) (in:) Wokół akcji AB (About the AB Action). Represje niemieckie w pierwszych latach okupacji (German Persecution in the Early Years of Occupation) Gierczyńska J., Skoczek T., Warsaw 2020.
   3. Kanior Marian, Wydział Teologiczny w dziejach Uniwersytetu Krakowskiego (The Faculty of Theology in the history of the University of Kraków) (1780–1880), Kraków 1998.
   4. Kościół katolicki w czasach komunistycznej dyktatury. Między bohaterstwem a agenturą (The Catholic Church under Communist Dictatorship. Between Heroism and Communist Agents), vol. I: Materiały i studia (Materials and Research), ed. Ryszard Terlecki, Jan Szczepaniak, Kraków 2007.
   5. Kościół krakowski w życiu państwa i narodu polskiego (The Kraków Church in the life of the Polish state and nation), ed. Andrzej Pankowicz, Kraków 2002.
   6. Kubiś Adam, Biskup Karol Wojtyła, Wikariusz Kapitulny Archidiecezji Krakowskiej a nowy etap dziejów Wydziału Teologicznego w Krakowie (Bishop Karol Wojtyła, Chapter Vicar of the Archdiocese of Kraków and the new stage in the history of the Faculty of Theology in Kraków), (in:) “Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny” (Wrocław Theological Review) no. 19/1 (2001), pp. 37–51.
   7. Kubiś Adam, Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Krakowie w latach 1954–1981 (The Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Kraków in the years 1954–1981), Kraków 2005, Series “Studia do Dziejów Wydziału Teologicznego Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego” (Studies on the History of the Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University), vol. 18.
   8. Kubiś Adam, Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Krakowie w latach 1954–1981 (The Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Kraków in the years 1954–1981), Kraków 2006.
   9. Kubiś Adam, Sześćset lat istnienia Wydziału Teologicznego (Six Hundred Years of the Faculty of Theology), (in:) Jubileusz sześćsetlecia Wydziału Teologicznego w Krakowie 20 X 1996 – 20 X 1997 (The 600th Anniversary of the Faculty of Theology in Kraków, 20 October 1996 – 20 October 1997), ed. Morawa J., Postawa S., Kraków 1998, Seria “Studia do Dziejów Wydziału Teologicznego Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego” (The series “Studies on the History of the Faculty of Theology at Jagiellonian University”), vol. 10, pp. 41–50.
   10. Kubiś Adam, Z dziejów usuwania teologii/wydziałów teologicznych z uniwersytetów (From the history of removing theology/theology departments from universities), (in:) “Studia Nauk Teologicznych” (Theological Studies) No 3 (2008), pp. 49–61.
   11. Marecki Józef, W służbie przeszłości i nauki (In the service of the past and science), Kraków 2012.
   12. Markowski Mieczysław, Dzieje Wydziału Teologii Uniwersytetu Krakowskiego w latach 1397–1525 (The History of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Kraków in the years 1397–1525), Kraków 1996.
   13. Piech Stanisław, Wydział Teologiczny UJ w latach 1880–1939 (The Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University in the years 1880–1939), Kraków 1995.
   14. Złota Księga Papieskiej Akademii Teologicznej w Krakowie (Gold Book of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków), ed. Stanisław Piech, Kraków 2000.
3. Websites
   1. The Pontifical Universities

Prepared by Sebastian Graniczkowski
3rd year BA History student