Croatian cardinal-designate hopes to continue legacy of predecessors

Published: 2003-10-07

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Cardinal-designate Josip Bozanic of Zagreb, Croatia, said he hopes he can continue the legacy of his Croatian cardinal-predecessors. "I think at this moment of my predecessors, the late Cardinals Franjo Kuharic and Franjo Seper of blessed memory, and the Blessed Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac. Their lives and testimonies remain lasting models and sources of inspiration," Cardinal-designate Bozanic said in a Sept. 30 statement to Croatia's Catholic news agency, IKA. Cardinal-designate Bozanic, one of 30 cardinals named Sept. 28 by Pope John Paul II, said he viewed his appointment as a sign of the pope's "attentiveness and confidence." He will receive his cardinal's red hat in an Oct. 21 consistory at the Vatican. Daniel Labas, an editor at Croatia's Glas Koncila Catholic weekly, said that in comparison to Cardinal Kuharic, who "had to defend the church against communist rule," Cardinal-designate Bozanic's task will be "to present the church to a secularized post-communist society, asserting its rights and collaborating with the institutions."

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