Gintaras Grušas (born 23 September 1961) is a

Lithuanian-American Lithuanian Americans refer to Americans, American citizens and residents of Lithuanians, Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

prelate who has served as

Archbishop of Vilnius In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

since 2013. He was previously Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Lithuania from 2010 to 2013.

Biography

Grušas was born in Washington, D.C., on 23 September 1961. His parents had reunited only a year earlier after 16 years apart when his mother was able to leave the Soviet Union and join his father in the United States. The family relocated to California and raised their son in Agoura. He earned a BS degree in Mathematics and Information Science at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Ca ...

(UCLA). He spent five years working as a technical consultant in marketing for IBM, which, he said, helped prepare him for the management and project-planning skills that a pastor needs. Grušas began his preparation for the priesthood at the

Franciscan University of Steubenville Franciscan University of Steubenville is a Private university, private Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance, Franciscan university in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. As of fall 2023, the university enrolled 3,750 students in 40 under ...

in Steubenville, Ohio. He then earned a

Bachelor of Sacred Theology The Bachelor of Sacred Theology (abbreviated STB) is the first of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the second being the Licentiate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theology) which are conferred by a number o ...

degree at the

Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PUST), also known as the ''Angelicum'' or ''Collegio Angelico'' (in honor of its patron, the ''Doctor Angelicus'' Thomas Aquinas), is a pontifical university located in the historic center of R ...

(''Angelicum'') in 1994. He was ordained a priest on 25 June 1994. After his ordination he worked as secretary-general of the Episcopal Conference of Lithuania until 1997. He earned a

Licentiate of Canon Law Licentiate of Canon Law (; JCL) is the title of an advanced graduate degree with canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church offered by pontifical universities and ecclesiastical faculties of canon law. Licentiate is the title of a person who ...

in 1999 and a Doctorate of Canon Law in 2001 from the ''Angelicum''. From 2001 to 2003 he was rector of the seminary in Vilnius. On 2 July 2010,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named him Military Ordinary of Lithuania and he was consecrated a bishop on 4 September. On 5 April 2013,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed him Archbishop of Vilnius to succeed Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis. He was installed there on 23 April 2013. On 9 June 2014 he was named a member of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

Congregation for the Clergy The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regard ...

and on 13 July 2016 of the

Secretariat for Communications The Dicastery for Communication (, ) is a department (dicastery) of the Roman Curia with authority over all communication offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Its various offices can be accessed through its website. These are the ...

. He was elected president of the Episcopal Conference of Lithuania on 28 October 2014. On 26 September 2021, he was elected President of the

Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe The Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (; CCEE) is a conference of the presidents of the 33 Roman Catholic episcopal conferences of Europe, the Archbishop of Luxembourg, the Archbishop of Monaco, Maronite Catholic Archeparch of Cypr ...

. On 23 October 2024, the Synod of Bishops elected Grušas a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grusas, Gintaras Living people 1961 births 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Lithuania Roman Catholic archbishops of Vilnius University of California, Los Angeles alumni Franciscan University of Steubenville alumni Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni Members of the Congregation for the Clergy Military Ordinary of Lithuania