Ján Sokol (born 9 October 1933 in Jacovce, Topoľčany District) is a Slovak priest and former Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Trnava.
Contents |
He studied at a grammar school in Topoľčany and studied theology and philosophy in Bratislava, before being ordained as a priest in 1957. He was subsequently a chaplain in Šurany (1957–58), Levice (1958–60), Bratislava-Nové Mesto (1960–66) and Štúrovo (1966–68). From 1968 to 1970 he was a prefect at a Roman Catholic seminary in Bratislava, before working again as a chaplain in Sereď in 1970–71, and was a dean there until 1975.
He was pronounced an Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Trnava (not to be confused with the present-day Archdiocese) in 1987, and appointed as a titular bishop of Luni in May 1988 and ordained bishop in June 1988 in the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Trnava. He became Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bratislava-Trnava in 1989.
On 14 February 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the Archbishop of the newly-created Archdiocese of Trnava, with a special privilege to wear pallium despite no longer being a metropolitan bishop.[1] In accordance with the canon law, upon reaching 75 years of age, he requested to be released from his office. Pope Benedict XVI named Róbert Bezák as his successor on 18 April 2009.
Ján Sokol is listed as having cooperated with the former Communist Czechoslovak secret police, according to the documents from Ústav pamäti národa (ÚPN, Nation's Memory Institute), however, he denied any cooperation.[2] He is also criticized for praising Jozef Tiso, the president of the WWII Slovak State.[2][3][4]