Zagreb (IKA) – The Apostolic Nunciature in the Republic of Croatia has issued a statement that the appointment by Pope John Paul II of Dr. Valentin Pozaić, S.J., professor of Christian Ethics at the College of Liberal Arts of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb, as auxiliary bishop of the Zagreb Archdiocese and the titular bishop of Petina (Pićan), was announced at the Vatican at 12 noon on Wednesday, February 2.

The Rev. Valentin Pozaić was born on September 15, 1945 in Marija Bistrica, as one of the many children of Janko and Agata (née Salar), both of whom are deceased. After completing elementary school, which he attended in Selnica and Bedekovčina, he enrolled at the seminary secondary school on Šalata in Zagreb. At the completion of his second year, he joined the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy and theology at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, S.J., in Zagreb. He was ordained a priest on June 24, 1973, after which he continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from which he received a baccalaureate in moral theology in 1975 and a doctorate in 1984. From 1977 to 1979, he was a member of the editorial board of the Croatian edition of Radio Vatican. After the completion of his studies, he returned to Zagreb and assumed the position of professor of moral theology at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, S.J., in Zagreb. From 1990 to 1994, he taught at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome. He is a professor of Christian ethics at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, S.J., in Zagreb.

His scientific work in the area of bioethics has been particularly distinguished and he founded the Center of Biothetics at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology. He has done research in America and Europe at the Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Washington, D.C., the Linacre Centre for Health Care Ethics, London, and the Instituto Borja de Bioetica, Barcelona.

Since 1990, he has been a member of the Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops for the Doctrine of the Faith, and is also a member of the Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops for the Family and the spiritual assistant of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society.

From 1994 to 2000, he was the rector of the College of the Society of Jesus at Jordanovac in Zagreb. He has published many scientific articles in professional journals and is the author of numerous books in the field of moral theology.