Pope Leo
Priest Grünwidl has supervised the Archdiocese of Vienna on an interim basis since January, after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Schönborn, 80.
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Grünwidl, 62, born in Lower Austria, was president of the Priestly Council of Vienna and episcopal vicar of the southern vicariate of the Archdiocese of Vienna before being appointed apostolic administrator.
A former concert organist, the archbishop-elect has held numerous positions in the archdiocese since his ordination in 1988, including pastor and parish moderator. The priest was also secretary to Cardinal Schönborn from 1995 to 1998, at the beginning of his term as archbishop of Vienna.
According to the Austrian public broadcasting, ORFGrünwidl was a member of the controversial “Pastoral Initiative”, a dissident Catholic group founded in Austria in 2006 with a call for “disobedience” on certain ecclesiastical issues. The group advocates for the ordination of women, optional priestly celibacy, and communion for the divorced and remarried and members of other Christian denominations.
ORF informa than Grünwidl, who not listed among current members of the “Pastoral Initiative”, has “recently emphasized that celibacy is a way of life consciously chosen by him personally, but ‘not a matter of faith’ and therefore should not be a mandatory requirement for priests.”
“On the issue of women in the Church, he identified an ‘urgent need for clarification,’” ORF continued. “The female diaconate should be discussed further and Grünwidl also considers the admission of women to the College of Cardinals conceivable.”
In statements to the “Orientation” program of the station earlier this year, Grünwidl stated that he abandoned the “Pastoral Initiative” because he considered that Pope Francis’ ideas had “overtaken” the group’s proposals and that he could no longer support a slogan of “disobedience.” He emphasized “critical obedience” and stated that he “cannot imagine open opposition to the bishop in the Church.”
The Catholic news agency Kathpress describes the archbishop-elect as a “leader with a solid pastoral foundation, a valuable preacher and an insightful conversationalist.”
Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Schönborn
Schönborn, a theologian who headed the Archdiocese of Vienna for 30 years, contributed to the drafting of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and presided over the Austrian Bishops’ Conference for 22 years.
This ecclesiastical leader was born in 1945 in Bohemia, in what was then Nazi Germany and is now part of the Czech Republic, into a noble family.
He grew up in western Austria, near the Swiss border, and joined the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans, in 1963.
He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Vienna in 1970. He studied Sacred Theology in Paris and in Regensburg, Germany, with then Father Joseph Ratzinger, future Pope Benedict XVI.
Schönborn earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology in the 1970s and was subsequently appointed to the Vatican’s prestigious International Theological Commission. He was editorial secretary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and, in 1991, Saint John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Vienna.
After being appointed coadjutor archbishop of Vienna in April 1995, he succeeded Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër, OSB, as archbishop of Vienna on September 14, 1995.
Schönborn was created cardinal by Saint John Paul II in 1998.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Hannah Brockhaus
Hannah Brockhaus is Rome correspondent for Catholic News Agency. He grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a bachelor’s degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.