Ján Sokol (born 9 October 1933) is a Slovak archbishop and former Archbishop of Trnava and

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Life

Sokol was born in

Jacovce Jacovce () is a municipality in the Topoľčany District of the Nitra Region, Slovakia. In 2011 it had 1770 inhabitants. Jacovce is a birthplace of Slovak Ice hockey, ice-hockey star Miroslav Šatan, Miro Šatan. Notable people * Ladislav Jurkemi ...

Topoľčany District Topoľčany District (''okres Topoľčany'') is a district in the Nitra Region of western Slovakia. It borders Nové Mesto nad Váhom District and Bánovce nad Bebravou District in the north, Piešťany District and Hlohovec District in the we ...

. He studied at a grammar school in Topoľčany and studied theology and philosophy in

, before being ordained as a priest in 1957. He was subsequently a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Šurany Šurany (until 1927, ''Veľké Šurany'') is a town and a railroad hub in the Nové Zámky District, Nitra Region, southern Slovakia. Alongside the main settlement, it has the boroughs of Kostolný Sek and Nitriansky Hrádok, both annexed 1976. ...

(1957–58),

Levice Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located i ...

(1958–60), Bratislava- Nové Mesto (1960–66) and

Štúrovo Štúrovo (, ) is the southernmost town of Slovakia, situated on the river Danube not far from the mouth of the Hron. Connected by the Mária Valéria Bridge it forms a cross-border urban area with the city of Esztergom in Hungary. In 2023 the tow ...

(1966–68). From 1968 to 1970 he was a prefect at a Catholic seminary in Bratislava, before working again as a chaplain in

Sereď Sereď (; ) is a town in southern Slovakia near Trnava, on the right bank of the Váh River on the Danubian Lowland. It has approximately 15,500 inhabitants. Geography Sereď lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of . It ...

in 1970–71, and was a

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

there until 1975. He was appointed

Apostolic Administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of the

Archdiocese of Trnava The Archdiocese of Trnava (, ) is a Latin Catholic archdiocese in western Slovakia including bigger part of the Trnava, and parts of Nitra and Trenčín regions. It has its seat in Trnava. Although it is an archdiocese, it is not a metropolita ...

in 1987, and appointed as a titular bishop of Luni in May 1988 and consecrated bishop in June 1988 in the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

. He became Archbishop of Trnava in 1989 and Archbishop of Bratislava and Trnava in 1995. On 14 February 2008,

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 ...

appointed him as the Archbishop of the newly reformed Archdiocese of Trnava, which remained an Archdiocesis despite no longer being

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

. In accordance with the

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

, upon reaching 75 years of age, he requested to be released from his office. Pope Benedict XVI named

Róbert Bezák Mons. Róbert Bezák, C.SS.R. (born 1 March 1960) is a Slovak Roman Catholic prelate. He was consecrated as Archbishop of Trnava on June 6, 2009, by Cardinal Jozef Tomko. He was removed from his see on July 2, 2012. Hundreds of Catholics p ...

as his successor on 18 April 2009.

Controversy

Ján Sokol is listed as having cooperated with the former Communist Czechoslovak secret police, according to the documents from ''Ústav pamäti národa'' (ÚPN, Nation's Memory Institute), however, he denied any cooperation.Slovak Spectator: After 200 years, the Catholic Church gets a makeover
/ref> He is also criticized for praising

Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (, ; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovaks, Slovak politician and Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), First Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War ...

, the president of Slovakia from 1939 to 1945. Tiso's government was responsible for the

deportation of Jews from Slovakia During the Holocaust, most of Slovakia's Jewish population was deported in two waves—in 1942 and in 1944–1945. In 1942, there were two destinations: 18,746 Jews were deported in eighteen transports to Auschwitz concentration camp and anot ...

.SME: Zväz židovských obcí vytkol Sokolovi, že obhajoval vojnový štát
/ref>

References

External links

Biography on the page of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovakia
1933 births Living people People from Topoľčany District 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Slovakia 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Slovakia Slovak Roman Catholic archbishops {{Slovakia-RC-archbishop-stub