Cardinal Kuharic

Name:

H.E. Franjo Card. KUHARIC

Position:

Archbishop Emeritus of Zagreb

Born:

15 April 1919

Died:

8 March 2002 (Aged 82)

From:

Croatia

Cardinal since:

02 February 1983

Title:

Cardinal Priest of S Girolamo dei Croati

Born on April 15, 1919, in Pribic, Croatia, Cardinal Kuharic was the youngest in a family of 13 children. He entered the Minor Seminary of Zagreb in 1931, where he remained until 1939. He was ordained on July 15, 1945, and immediately appointed to a Communist-controlled parish. In 1946, he added another parish to his care; the church of Rakov Potok, where the previous parish priest had been executed by the Marxist regime. On February 22, 1947, Kuharic himself became a victim of an attempted assassination by militant communists. He was named Bishop of Meta on February 15, 1964, and in September 1969 was made President of the Yugoslav Episcopal Conference, a position to which he was reappointed four times. On June 16, 1970, Kuharic was promoted to Archbishop of Zagreb. He was made a cardinal by John Paul II during the Consistory of February 2, 1983. He died on 8 March 2002.