Servant of God Franjo Kuharić

Franjo Kuharić (15 April 1919 – 11 March 2002) was a Croatian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1970 until his resignation in 1997. Made a cardinal in 1983, he was known as the "Rock of Croatia" because of his defense of human rights and urgings of peace and forgiveness during the independence conflict and the Bosnian War. Kuharić was a vocal supporter of the cause for the canonization of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac (who had ordained him as a priest in 1945). He worked to rehabilitate the image of the cardinal during his episcopate, eventually leading to Stepinac's 1998 beatification in Zagreb. Kuharić's own cause for canonization commenced on 11 March 2012 and he has been titled as a Servant of God. Franjo Kuharić was born on 15 April 1919 in Pribić as the thirteenth and final child born to his poor parents Ivan Kuharić and Ana Blažić. In 1934, he began his theological and philosophical education at the archdiocesan classical lyceum in Zagreb, and continued at the college. His education was completed in 1945. He received his solemn ordination to the priesthood in mid-1945 in the Zagreb Cathedral from Alojzije Stepinac and began his pastoral work in Zagreb from 1945 until 1964. His first pastoral assignment after his ordination was to serve as a chaplain in small villages surrounding Zagreb before Stepinac sent him as a pastor to the Radoboj village. In 1964 Kuharić became one of the archdiocese's auxiliary bishops and was named Titular Bishop of Meta. He received his episcopal consecration as a bishop in mid-1964 from Franjo Šeper in the archdiocesan cathedral. In 1964 and in 1965 he attended – as a bishop – the last two sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a Council Father. In 1969 he was made the apostolic administrator for the archdiocese after Cardinal Šeper was summoned to Rome to assume a new position which put Kuharić in charge of the archdiocese as its interim head.