www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Jesuit Fr Cyril Vasiľ New Secretary of Oriental Congregation

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Jesuit Fr Cyril Vasiľ as the new Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Until now he has been Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. The Holy Father has also appointed him titular Archbishop of Ptolemais in Libya.

Biography

Fr Cyril Vasiľ, S.J., was born on 10 April 1965 in Košice, Slovakia. He attended the University of Bratislava's School of Theology from 1982 to 1987.

He was ordained priest in 1987. He entered the Society of Jesus on 15 October 1990 and was solemnly professed in 2001.

He earned a license in canon law (JCL) in 1989 and a doctorate (JCD) in 1994, both from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

In 2002 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Canon Law and Pro-Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. In May 2007 he was appointed Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

He is a consultor to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. He attended the Synod of Bishops in 2005 as an expert. He is a visiting professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the Universities of Bratislava and Trnava. In 2003 he was named spiritual counsellor to the International Union of the Guides and Scouts of Europe.

In addition to Slovak, he knows Latin, Italian, English, Russian, Ukrainian, French, German, Spanish, Greek and Old Church Slavonic.

He is the author of a number of books and articles and is a collaborator of the Vatican Radio.

Source:
"Nomina del Segretario della Congregazione per le Chiese Orientali [212.77.1.245], Bollettino della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, 7 May 2009.

Very iteresting.

Clearly the new secretary has a very impressive résumé. Does anyone on the forum know him in person? Or perhaps someone knows of his work?

I don't follow Jesuit priests much they seem rather liberal but I guess I should.

Yes dear brother in Christ, I know new archbishop personally. First of all, I am from Slovakia and currently studying in Rome at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Everyone was pleased to hear that announcement, made today at our school officialy by Cardinal Sandri, who was there and received relics of St. Andrew given to us by bishop of Amalfi, here in Italy. Father Vasil is the best choice, and we all put great hope in him, so that he will help a lot our Eastern Churches, as he is indeed a son of Eastern Church himslef.

Many years to him! Thanks be to the Lord!

God grant him many years!

Does anyone know if any of his books been translated into English?

I also know Archbishop-elect Cyril personally. He spoke at both the Prostopinije Conference and the program for the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Blessed Theodore Romzha in Uzhorod, and has been a frequent visitor to both Slovakia and Transcarpathia. He is a wonderful person, very spiritual and obviously quite an academic. He is also very ecumenically minded and had very positive encounters with Archbishop +Vsevolod, of blessed memory.

He will be a wonderful asset in the Congregation in general, and especially for the Eastern Slavic Churches. Axios! Many Years!

Jack

He speaks ELEVEN languages? It boggles the mind!

Alexis

The Pope has been appointing many Jesuits lately... quite interesting.

Fr. Vasil is also very young... ordained a priest at only 22 years of age and now Archbishop at the age of 44!

Looks like we have an Eastern Catholic match for Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev :-)

Christ is Risen!

This is a wonderful-wonderful choice. When I received the news this morning I was filled with joy. Archbishop-elect Cyril (Vasil) is the right person. He comes from a priestly family. His brother is also a Greek Catholic priest. He was great instructor of Eastern Canon Law in Rome during my studies. Always helpful to all the students and a very humble priest. All I can say is: Is Polla Eti Despota!

Archbishop elect Cyril will be ordained June 14th 2009 (22nd anniversary of his priestly ordination) at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome at 3.00 PM.

God grant him many years!

That depends entirely on the Jesuit at hand . . .(OK, the music is uniformly bad, but . . .

hawk, who spent eight years in their schools and probably would have joined but for celibacy

Does anybody know if the ordination will be streaming live?

Just a note: They finally announced who the Consecrating Bishops will be. Yesterday I was speaking with Metropolitan Basil and he said that things were running behind schedule with the planning.

Who will be the consecrating bishops?

And how long has it been since a Papal Basilica has been host to an Eastern-Rite service? (I can think only of the Akathist of the Jubilee year 2000 as the most recent.)