Krol was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the fourth of eight children of John and Anna (née Pietruszka) Krol.[1] His parents were Polish immigrants who were originally from the Tatra Mountains.[2] Krol's father held various occupations, working as a machinist, barber, carpenter, plumber and electrician; his mother worked as a maid at a hotel in Cleveland.[3] At age 2, he and his family returned to Poland, but returned to Cleveland within a year.[4] Krol received his early education at the parochial school of St. Hyacinth Church.[5] At age 9, he went to work part-time as a butcher's helper.[3] He later worked as a maker of wooden boxes.[3]
Krol attended Cathedral Latin High School, graduating at age 16 in 1927.[3] He then took a job as a butcher at a Kroger grocery store in Cleveland, where he became manager of the meat department at age 18.[1] Religious questions from a Lutheran co-worker prompted Krol to more deeply study Catholic theology and eventually decide to enter the priesthood.[4] He began his studies at St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan.[6] He later enrolled at St. Mary's Seminary in his native Cleveland.[5] At St. Mary's, he also operated a small tobacco business, receiving shipments of defective cigars and then selling them to his fellow seminarians.[4]
Following the death of Cardinal John Francis O'Hara, Krol was appointed the sixth Archbishop of Philadelphia by Pope John XXIII on February 11, 1961.[7] His installation took place at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul on March 22 of that year.[9] He was the first Polish American to become an archbishop, and, at age 50, was the youngest Catholic archbishop in the country at the time.[3] In his first sermon as archbishop, Krol spoke of the need for civic dedication and virtue, saying, "I am conscious, too, of our beloved country, the bold idealism that inspired it, the courage that gave it birth. May God grant that our prayers, the moral integrity of our lives, the clarity of our teaching, and the sincerity of our patriotism help increase the spiritual resources without which no nation can survive."[9]
After the first meeting between Church and Freemasonry which had been held on 11 April 1969 at the convent of the Divine Master in Ariccia, he was the protagonist of a series of public handshakes between high prelates of the Roman Catholic Church and the heads of Freemasonry.[11]
Krol was hospitalized in 1987 for treatment of diverticulosis.[14] Due to his ill health, he resigned as Archbishop of Philadelphia on February 11, 1988, exactly 27 years after he was appointed to the post. He was succeeded by Anthony Bevilacqua.
Cardinal Krol was criticized for his role in the archidocese's sex abuse scandal some 10 years after his death. The Grand Jury stated that Krol knew that some priests under his command were molesting and raping young boys and girls but did nothing to prevent future crimes. A 2005 grand jury report cited evidence that both Cardinal Krol (Archbishop of Philadelphia 1961–1988) and his successor Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (Archbishop of Philadelphia 1988–2003) had allowed dozens of sexually abusive priests to stay in holy orders by transferring them from parish to parish to avoid a scandal.[15]
E. Michael Jones published a biography of Krol in 1995 titled John Cardinal Krol and the Cultural Revolution. The book covers Krol's early life and his time as President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the turbulent times of the 1970s. In order to give Jones sources for the book, Krol allowed Jones access to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia archives.[16]
Views
Krol was widely considered to be a staunch conservative, even a "traditionalist".[17][18] As described by The New York Times, he was "an outspoken defender of traditional theology, hierarchical authority and strict church discipline."[1]The Philadelphia Inquirer recalled how Krol was "[ha]iled by conservatives as a defender of the church's heritage and criticized by liberals as an opponent of change."[3] However, despite his conservative views on doctrine and church government, he was more liberal on social principles, such as nuclear disarmament and humanitarian programs.[19][20]
Abortion
In 1973, he called the Supreme Court's decisions overturning state laws banning abortion "an unspeakable tragedy for this nation" that "sets in motion developments which are terrifying to contemplate." In 1974, Krol testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the Human Life Amendment proposed by New York Senator James L. Buckley. While mostly in favor, Krol argued that the amendment should drop the exception for when the mother's life was in danger, so that should abortion be banned under all circumstances.[21][22] Krol in his statement said of Roe v. Wade:
Every week, since the Supreme Court's decisions of January 22, 1973, there have been as many deaths from abortion as there were deaths at Nagasaki as a result of the atomic bomb. Every nine days there are as many deaths from abortion as there were American deaths in the 10 years of the Vietnam war."[23]
Marriages
He opposed looser regulations governing marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics.
In 1979, his Congressional testimony backing talks on limiting strategic arms foreshadowed an appeal in a pastoral letter by American bishops for nuclear disarmament in 1983. At the high tide of the nuclear freeze movement in 1982, Cardinal Krol told 15,000 demonstrators at a Philadelphia rally that it was time for governments "to dismantle existing nuclear weapons." He later acknowledged that his belief in gradual and reciprocal disarmament, with strong safeguards against cheating, was probably not shared by all the demonstrators.
Second Vatican Council
After the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, he soon joined those alarmed by the pressures for change that the Council produced. He opposed many of the small accommodations or options in church discipline that gained favor after Vatican II, including looser regulations governing marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics, the reception of Communion in the hand, and attending Mass on Saturday evening instead of Sunday.
^Robenalt, James D. (2015). January 1973: Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Vietnam, and the Month that Changed America Forever. Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press. ISBN978-1-61374-967-8. OCLC906705247.
^"Philadelphia Archdiocese Concealed Sexual Abuse, Grand Jury Finds (Published 2005)". The New York Times. 21 September 2005. Retrieved 3 March 2022. "Archdiocese leaders have endangered and harmed children in parishes and schools by keeping known abusers in ministry and transferring discovered abusers to assignments where parents and potential victims are unaware of the priests' sexual" behavior, the report said.
^"Pre-eminent conservative: Cardinal John Krol served his church long and faithfully". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1996-03-06.
^Williams, Daniel K. (2016). Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-life Movement Before Roe v. Wade. Oxford University Press. pp. 218–219. ISBN978-0-19-939164-6.
