Karel Otčenášek (13 April 1920 – 23 May 2011) was a Czech

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

Early life

Otčenášek was born in České Meziříčí, Czech Republic and was ordained a priest on 17 March 1945.

Career

He became

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 Diocese of Hradec Králové on 30 March 1950 and was consecrated bishop on 30 April 1950. From 1951 to 1962, he was imprisoned for having been consecrated without the consent of the government which was legally required during the communist rule of the Czechoslovakia. Otcenášek was appointed bishop of the same diocese (

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

) on 21 December 1989, where he served until his retirement on 6 June 1998. He was promoted ''

Archbishop ad personam 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 archd ...

'' by

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

on 24 September 1998.

External links

Catholic-Hierarchy

Diocese of Hradec Králové website
1920 births 2011 deaths Roman Catholic bishops in Czechoslovakia Czech archbishops Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk People from Rychnov nad Kněžnou District 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Czech Republic {{Europe-RC-bishop-stub