Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Łódź (Poland), was born on 9 February 1964 in Krakow. In the years 1982 to 1988 he studied at the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Church History of the Pontifical Academy of Theology of Krakow and in the major seminary of the archdiocese of Krakow.

He was ordained a priest on 22 May 1988 in Wawel Cathedral. In 1994 Ryś received his doctorate in theological sciences on the basis of his thesis Medieval Popular Piety in Poland, while in 2000, his Jan Hus in the Face of the Crisis of the Reformed Church, obtained him a postdoctoral degree in the field of history.

From 1988 to 1989 Ryś worked in the parish of Saints Margaret and Catherine in Kęty. From 2004 to 2007 he was the director of the Metropolitan Chapter Archive in Krakow, at the Institute of History of the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Pontifical John Paul II University (formerly the Pontifical Academy of Theology). In the years from 2007 to 2011 Ryś was rector of the major seminary of the archdiocese of Krakow, and in the years from 2010 to 2011 he was president of the Conference of Polish Theological Seminary Rectors.

On 16 July 2011 Ryś was appointed titular bishop of Arcavica and auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Krakow by Pope Benedict XVI. He was ordained a bishop on 28 September 2011 in Wawel Cathedral, choosing “Virtus in infirmitate” (Power in weakness) as his motto.

On 14 September 2017 Pope Francis appointed Ryś as archbishop of Łódź. He took office as archbishop in the Arch-Cathedral Basilica of Saint Stanislaus Kostka on 4 November 2017. On 29 June 2018, he received the pallium in a ceremony in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and it was conferred to him on 5 October 2018 in Łódź Cathedral by the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland.

In 2018 Ryś convened the fourth synod in the history of the archdiocese of Łódź on the topic of introducing the permanent diaconate to combat the shortage of priests. In 2019, he introduced the permanent diaconate in the archdiocese and also created the Diocesan Missionary Seminary Redemptoris Mater International of the Neocatechumenal Way.

On 25 June 2020, Ryś was appointed by Pope Francis as apostolic administrator sede plena of the diocese of Kalisz. On 21 November 2020 Pope Francis appointed him member of the Dicastery for Bishops.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of 30 September 2023, of the Title of  Santi Cirillo e Metodio.