ZAGREB, Oct 21 (Hina) - The following is a curriculum vitae of the newly installed Croatian Cardinal Josip Bozanic.
ZAGREB, Oct 21 (Hina) - The following is a curriculum vitae of the
newly installed Croatian Cardinal Josip Bozanic. #L#
Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic was born on 20 March 1949 in the
northern Adriatic seaport of Rijeka. He attended primary school in
Vrbnik on the island of Krk and secondary school in Pazin, which he
completed in 1968. He studied theology in Rijeka and Zagreb, where
he graduated from the Catholic Faculty of Theology.
Krk Bishop Karmelo Zazinovic ordained him to the priesthood on 29
June 1975 in Krk. The same year, he was appointed secretary to the
bishop and served in this position from 1975 to 1976 and from 1978 to
1979. In the meantime, from 1976 to 1978, he was the parish vicar in
Mali Losinj and the administrator of the parish of Veli Losinj.
During this period, he also enrolled in postgraduate studies at the
Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, where he earned the degree
of master of theology in dogmatics in 1979.
The bishop sent him for further study in Rome. At the Pontifical
Croatian Institute of St. Jerome he continued his studies in
theology at the Gregorian Pontifical University and in canon law at
the Pontifical Lateran University, earning a licentiate in canon
law.
Upon returning from Rome, he was appointed chancellor of the
diocesan ordinariate in 1986 and general vicar of Krk Diocese in
1987. From 1988 to 1997, he taught dogmatic theology and canon law
at the School of Theology in Rijeka. When the Justitia et Pax
Commission of the Yugoslav Conference of Bishops was established in
1987, he served as vice president until 1993.
On 10 May 1989 Pope John Paul II appointed him Krk Bishop Coadjutor.
Cardinal Franjo Kuharic ordained him in the Krk Cathedral on 25 June
1989. He served as the bishop coadjutor until 14 November 1989 when
he became the diocesan bishop of Krk. During the illness of Rijeka-
Senj Archbishop Metropolitan Anton Tamarut, Bozanic was the
apostolic administrator of that archdiocese from June to November
1996.
In the bishops' conference, he has performed various duties. From
1989 to 1997, he was president of the Council for the Laity. He also
served several mandates as a member of the Episcopal Commission for
the Pontifical Croatian Institute of St. Jerome in Rome. On several
occasions, he represented the Croatian bishops' conference at
meetings of bishops' conferences in various countries in Europe and
in international bodies. Since the Croatian Conference of Bishops
was established in 1993, he has been a member of the Permanent
Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops in all the mandates.
He served on the conference's Commission for Relations with the
Government since it was established, and in 1996 became the
chairman. It was during this time that the bilateral accords were
drawn up between the Holy See and the Republic of Croatia.
On 5 July 1997, he was ordained as Zagreb Archbishop and assumed the
office of the archbishop and metropolitan of Zagreb on 4 October
1997. The same year, he was elected as the president of the Croatian
Conference of Bishops. In 2002, he was re-elected as president of
the conference.
In 1998, in his capacity as the archbishop of Zagreb and president
of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Bozanic welcomed the Holy
Father to Zagreb on his second apostolic visit to Croatia, and asked
the pontiff to beatify Alojzije Stepinac during the beatification
ceremony in the national Marian shrine at Marija Bistrica.
On the feast of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, 10 February 2002, the
Primate of the Catholic Church in Croatia announced the Second
Archdiocesan Synod and commenced preparations.
He participated in Rome at both special assemblies of the Synod of
Bishops for Europe in 1991 and 1999. He was elected at the Second
Synod and confirmed by Pope John Paul II as a member of the special
assembly for Europe at the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in
Rome. In 2001, he was chosen to serve as the first vice president of
the Council of European Bishops' Conferences. He is a member of the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments and the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
(hina) ms sb