Franjo Šeper
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His Eminence Franjo Šeper | |
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CardinalPrefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithArchbishop of Zagreb | |
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Church | Roman Catholic |
Archdiocese | Zagreb |
Appointed | 8 January 1968 |
Term ended | 25 November 1981 |
Predecessor | Alojzije Stepinac |
Successor | Franjo Kuharić |
Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest of SS Pietro e Paolo a Via Ostiense |
Orders | |
Ordination | 26 October 1930 by Giuseppe Palica |
Consecration | 21 September 1954 by |
Created cardinal | 22 February 1965 |
Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
Personal details | |
Born | Osijek, Austria-Hungary | 2 October 1905
Died | 30 December 1981 | (aged 76)
Nationality | Croatian |
Previous post(s) |
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Coat of arms | ![]() |
Styles of Franjo Šeper | |
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Reference style | His Eminence |
Spoken style | Your Eminence |
Informal style | Cardinal |
See | Zagreb |
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Part of a series on the |
Catholic Church in Croatia |
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Franjo Šeper (2 October 1905, in Osijek – 30 December 1981, in Rome) was a Croatian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1968 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.
Life and Ministry[]
Born in Osijek, in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (present-day Croatia), he and his family moved to Zagreb in 1910; his father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress. He started his seminary studies in Zagreb then at the Pontifical Gregorian University) in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Giuseppe Palica on 26 October 1930.
His first pastoral assignments were in the Archdiocese of Zagreb and, in 1934, was appointed private secretary to the Archbishop. In 1941 Father Šeper became the rector of the archdiocesan seminary, a post which he held for the next decade. On 22 July 1954 he was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Zagreb and Titular Archbishop of Philippopolis; he received his episcopal consecration on the following 21 September from Archbishop Josip Ujčić of Belgrade.
Archbishop of Zagreb[]
He succeeded Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac as Archbishop of Zagreb on 5 March 1960, and was created Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Pietro e Paolo a Via Ostiense by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 22 February 1965.
Prefect of the CDF[]
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He was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 8 January 1968. Šeper was the author of the document , which was written in order to re-orient the ecclesiology of the post-Vatican II period. Šeper was also the President of the International Theological Commission from its inception in April 1969.
In 1974, the Congregation published a "declaration on procured abortion", re-asserting the Church's opposition to the procedure since the publication of Humanae Vitae. It later published the document Persona Humana[1] on the topic of sexual ethics.
In 1976, he was responsible for writing the statement Inter Insigniores, which firmly rejected the ordination of women in the Catholic Church. In 1980, he also wrote the CDF's declaration on Euthanasia, explaining the Church's view on ending life.[citation needed]
He was a cardinal elector in the August and October conclaves of 1978.
Death and legacy[]
Pope John Paul II accepted ��eper's resignation as Prefect on 25 November 1981. He died on 30 December in Gemelli Hospital, where he had been hospitalized for a month.[2] John Paul presided at his funeral Mass, and Seper's body was later transferred to Zagreb, where it is buried beside the tomb of Cardinal Stepinac.
References[]
- ^ Persona Humana, vatican.va; accessed 18 March 2016.
- ^ "Cardinal Seper Dies in Rome; Vatican Guardian of the Faith". The New York Times. 31 December 1981. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
External links[]
- Michael Davies's account of his 1980 meeting with Šeper
- Audio recordings with Franjo Šeper in the Online Archive of the Österreichische Mediathek. Interviews (in German). Retrieved 2. March 2020
- 1905 births
- 1981 deaths
- People from Osijek
- People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
- Archbishops of Zagreb
- Bishops appointed by Pope John XXIII
- Roman Catholic archbishops in Yugoslavia
- Participants in the Second Vatican Council
- Croatian cardinals
- 20th-century cardinals
- Members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
- Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI
- Burials at Zagreb Cathedral