Franjo Šeper

Born in Osijek, in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (present-day Croatia), he and his family moved to Zagreb in 1910; his father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress. He started his seminary studies in Zagreb then at the Pontifical Gregorian University) in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Giuseppe Palica on 26 October 1930.

His first pastoral assignments were in the Archdiocese of Zagreb and, in 1934, was appointed private secretary to the Archbishop. In 1941, father Šeper became the rector of the archdiocesan seminary, a post which he held for the next decade. On 22 July 1954 he was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Zagreb and Titular Archbishop of Philippopolis; he received his episcopal consecration on the following 21 September from Archbishop Josip Ujčić of Belgrade.

He succeeded Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac as Archbishop of Zagreb on 5 March 1960, and was created Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Pietro e Paolo a Via Ostiense by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 22 February 1965.

He was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on 8 January 1968. Šeper was also the President of the International Theological Commission from its inception in April 1969, and the author of the 1973 document Mysterium Ecclesiae,Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19730705_mysterium-ecclesiae_en.html Declaration in Defense of the Catholic Doctrine on the Church against certain errors of the present day], published 24 June 1973, accessed 16 November 2021 which was written in order to re-orient the ecclesiology of the post-Vatican II period.

After the first meeting held on 11 April 1969 in the convent of the Divine Master in Ariccia, in the Vatican he supervised the development of work on the ecumenical dialogue between the Church and Freemasonry.{{cite web|author=Sandro Magister|url=https://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/7167.html|title=Tra il papa e il massone non c'è comunione|date=19 August 1999|publisher=L'Espresso}}

In 1974, the Congregation published a "Declaration on procured abortion", re-asserting the Church's opposition to the procedure since the publication of Humanae Vitae. It later published the document Persona Humana[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html Persona Humana], vatican.va; accessed 18 March 2016. on the topic of sexual ethics.

In 1976, he was responsible for writing the statement Inter Insigniores, which firmly rejected the ordination of women in the Catholic Church. Inter Insigniores does not apply to the question of ordaining women as deacons in the Catholic Churches. In 1980, he also wrote the CDF's declaration on Euthanasia, explaining the Church's view on ending life.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Šeper was a cardinal elector in the August and October conclaves of 1978.{{fact|date=December 2022}}

Pope John Paul II accepted Šeper's resignation as Prefect on 25 November 1981. He died on 30 December in Gemelli Hospital, where he had been hospitalized for a month.{{cite news | work = The New York Times| access-date = 8 August 2017 | date = 31 December 1981 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/31/obituaries/cardinal-seper-dies-in-rome-vatican-guardian-of-the-faith.html | title = Cardinal Seper Dies in Rome; Vatican Guardian of the Faith}} John Paul presided at his funeral Mass, and Šeper's body was later transferred to Zagreb, where it is buried beside the tomb of Cardinal Stepinac.{{fact|date=December 2022}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Apologia/Vol_three/Chapter_22.htm Michael Davies's account of his 1980 meeting with Šeper]
• [https://www.mediathek.at/nc/type/8000/searchQuery/1156/hash/FencZqFP/ Audio recordings with Franjo Šeper] in the Online Archive of the Österreichische Mediathek. Interviews {{in lang|de}}. Retrieved 2. March 2020

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{{succession box | before=Alojzije Stepinac | title=Archbishop of Zagreb | years=1960–1969| after=Franjo Kuharić }}

{{succession box | before=Alfredo Ottaviani | title=Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | years=1968–1981| after=Joseph Ratzinger }}

{{succession box | before=Titular Church Created | title=Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Pietro e Paolo a Via Ostiense | years=1965–1981| after=Ricardo Vidal }}

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Category:1905 births

Category:1981 deaths

Category:People from Osijek

Category:People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia

Category:Pontifical Gregorian University alumni

Category:Archbishops of Zagreb

Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Pius XII

Category:Bishops appointed by Pope John XXIII

Category:Roman Catholic archbishops in Yugoslavia

Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council

Category:Croatian cardinals

Category:20th-century cardinals

Category:Members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith

Category:Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI

Category:Burials at Zagreb Cathedral

Category:Croatian Roman Catholic archbishops