He was appointed Archbishop of Kraków from 1978, named by Pope John Paul II to succeed him in that role.

During World War II he worked as a menial laborer and afterward entered the seminary in Kraków, where he also studied theology.

Until 1956 he was a vicar in a parish near Bielsko-Biała and was then transferred to Fribourg, Switzerland, to continue his theological studies.

Archbishop Macharski was created Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni a Porta Latina as his titular church in June 1979, the first consistory of John Paul II,[3] just six months after his episcopal consecration.

He was a member of the cardinal electors of the 2005 papal conclave that elected Joseph Alois Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.