Jānis Pujats

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Styles of Jānis Cardinal Pujats


Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Riga

Jānis Cardinal Pujats (born 14 November 1930) is the Archbishop of Riga, Latvia.

Pujats was born in the town of Nautreni. He attended the Theological Seminary in Riga until it was closed by the Soviet Union in 1951. Two months later, he was ordained in a secret ceremony by Archbishop Antonijs Springovics. During the episcopate of Pope Paul VI, he implemented the Pope's liturgical reform and published the first missal in Latvian. Cardinal Pujats was made Archbishop of Riga in 1991. On 21 February 1998 he was made a Cardinal in pectore by Pope John Paul II; his cardinalate was not publicly revealed until the consistory of 21 February 2001. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. He is noted for being the only member of the Synod of Bishops to speak exclusively Latin when at the microphone at both the 2001 and 2005 meetings.^[1]

[edit] Condemnation of homosexuality

In a May 2007 open letter protesting a gay pride march scheduled for 3 June 2007 as part of the Riga Pride and Friendship Days, Pujāts referred to homosexuality as "absolute depravity in sexual behavior" and an "unnatural form of prostitution".^[2] He went on to exhort the faithful to "be prepared to go out into the streets"^[3] to protest the events, "not to create disorder, but to offer a disciplined position in support of the government, because on this very important issue of morals, the government is on the side of Christians."^[4]