Zagreb, (IKA) – Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Dr. Ivan Šaško, a professor at the Catholic School of Theology, University of Zagreb, as an auxiliary bishop of the Zagreb Archdiocese and the titular bishop of Rotaria (Rotariensis – Numidia), according to an announcement issued by the Secretariat of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, which also states that the Apostolic Nunciature in the Republic of Croatia has announced that this appointment was proclaimed on Monday, February 11, at 12 noon in the Vatican.
Prof. Ivan Šaško was born on August 1, 1966 in the parish of Lovrečka Varoš near Vrbovec to Stjepana and Ljubica Šaško. After completing elementary school in Vrbovec, he enrolled in the Archdiocesan Seminary on Šalata in Zagreb in 1981, graduating in 1985. He then enrolled in the Catholic School of Theology in Zagreb. Upon completing the second year of the study of philosophy, he went to Rome to study theology. He stayed at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum from 1988 to 1994. After studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, in 1991 he continued postgraduate studies at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm, receiving a master’s degree in 1994 and a doctorate in liturgy in 1997. From 1994 to 1996, he stayed at the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 28, 1992. Since 1996, he has taught liturgy at the Catholic School of Theology, University of Zagreb. Since 2001, he has been a member of the College of Prebendaries of the Zagreb Cathedral Chapter. In the year 2005, he was appointed as head of the Commission for the Establishment of the Croatian Catholic University in Zagreb. After the proclamation of the Decree of the Establishment of the Croatian Catholic University in 2006, he became the head of the Commission of the Croatian Catholic University. Msgr. Šaško is a member of the Episcopal Commission for the Liturgy of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, the Presbyter Council and the College of Advisors to the Zagreb Archdiocese, as well as the secretary of the Archdiocesan Committee for Sacred Art. He has published numerous professional articles and several books.