Cardinal Estanislao Esteban Karlic, Archbishop Emeritus of Paraná (Argentina), died this Friday, August 8 at 99.
So They reported from the archbishopric of Paraná. The Archbishop, Mons. Raúl Martín, and Archbishop Emeritus, Mons. Juan Alberto Puiggari, entrusted his soul to our Mother of the Rosary.
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Born on February 7, 1926 in Oliva, Province of Córdoba (Argentina), in a family of Croatian immigrants, his career included great milestones: he was a doctor in theology from the Gregorian University of Rome, Archbishop of Paraná, president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference during two mandates, and one of the editors of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He was very close to Blessed Eduardo Pironio, whom he accompanied in Rome during the last days of his illness. “In Pironio we have a real model,” he said, full of joy for “knowing a saint.”
He served as theology and superior teacher of the Philosophy Section at the Córdoba Major Seminary, and received the academic degree of Doctor Honor at the Catholic University of Santa Fe.
He spent his last years in the Our Lady of Paraná monastery, where he shared his daily life with a community of Benedictine sisters, who congregated at 11:00 in the chapel where Cardinal Karlic celebrated the Eucharist.
Last May, the cardinal had undergone surgical intervention in which a pacemaker was placed. Since May 20, Jesus Good Pastor, of the Archdiocese of Paraná was in the priestly residence. That same day, Pope Leo XIV communicated with him and assured him of his prayers.
In December 2023, on the occasion of his 69 years of priesthood, Aci Press visited him in the monastery, and heard his testimony of deep love to the priesthood and the Eucharist.
“Son of God, priest forever,” he used to say that the only reason for his life was “being a sacrament, having real participation in the mystery of Jesus for his glory.”
“I want my breathing to be for me to exist and give glory to God, and thus be serving the world as a testimony,” he yearned.
Today, in his departure, he resonates one of the advice he shared with Aci Press in that visit: “Look for God, know that here and now he is coming, that He wants to arrive and give himself entirely, asking us for whole. Here and now he is, calling us towards eternity.”
The episcopate in Argentino joins “hopeful sadness”
The Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA) sent its condolences message to the Archdiocese of Paraná “in these moments of sadness hopeful for the departure of this soil of Cardinal Karlic.”
The CEA recalled the “fervent desire to serve the Lord in the Church” of purple, as well as his “meekness and goodness.”
The Argentine bishops also highlighted the “intellectual lucidity” of Cardinal Karlic, which “put at the service of theology in teaching and in the promotion of this discipline in the academic world which had its corollary when it was chosen a member of the Drafter Commission of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
“Through his fruitful life he has witnessed us that, truly, he is happy when he lives in the image of Jesus Server,” said the CEA.
Update: The CEA message was added by the death of Cardinal Karlic.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.