Monday, March 07, 2011

Pope appoints new bishop of Hradec Králové

Pope Benedict XVI Thursday appointed Jan Vokal new Czech bishop, responsible for the Hradec Kralove diocese, Czech Bishops' Conference spokesman Ales Pistora told CTK Thursday.

The post was vacant for more than a year. 

Dominik Duka, O.P., left it as he was named Prague archbishop in February 2010.

Vokal was an official working in the Vatican from 1991.

In 1992-2005, he was secretary to late cardinal Corrado Bafile.

He served as priest at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome from 2005. 

He was named papal prelate in 2007.

It was speculated who would replace Duka as Hradec Kralove bishop because the appointment was repeatedly postponed. 

Apart from Vokal, other possible candidates were Czech Jesuit Provincial Frantisek Hylmar and Jaroslav Broz, vice dean of Prague's Catholic Theological Faculty.

During the latest census, about one-fourth of the 1.26 million people living in the Hradec Kralove diocese claimed to be of Catholic religion. 

More than one-third of the locals were christened.