The Apostolic Nunciature in the Republic of Croatia has issued a statement that the appointment by Pope John Paul II of Dr. Valentin Pozaic, S.J., professor of Christian Ethics at the College of Liberal Arts of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb, as auxiliary bishop of the Zagreb Archdiocese and the titular bishop of Pičan, was announced at the Vatican at 12 noon on Wednesday, February 2.
Dr. Pozaic has been pastorally active in Washington, D.C. amongst the Croatians for the last twenty years. Let us accompany him with our thoughts and prayers as he continuesto spiritually labor for the Church and the Croatian people.
The Rev. Valentin Pozaic was born on September 15, 1945 in Marija Bistrica. He enrolled at the seminary secondary school on Salata in Zagreb and at the completion of his second year, he joined the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy and theology at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, S.J., in Zagreb. He was ordained a priest on June 24, 1973, after which he continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from which he received a baccalaureate in moral theology in 1975 and a doctorate in 1984. After the completion of his studies, he returned to Zagreb and assumed the position of professor of moral theology at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, S.J., in Zagreb. From 1990 to 1994, he taught at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome. He is a professor of Christian ethics at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, S.J., in Zagreb.
His scientific work in the area of bioethics has been particularly distinguished and he founded the Center of Biothetics at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology.
From 1994 to 2000, he was the rector of the College of the Society of Jesus at Jordanovac in Zagreb. He has published many scientific articles in professional journals and is the author of numerous books in the field of moral theology.