Secret bishop

In the 20th century and especially after the Second World War , secret bishops were ordained in the communist sphere of influence . The practice of religion was forbidden, the bishops deposed and imprisoned, and the nunciatures closed. The church worked underground. In addition to the ordinations of priests , the so-called "secret bishops" were also ordained bishops. As apostolic administrators, these should canonically look after the dioceses.

Numerous secret bishops were appointed by the Holy See or consecrated by bishops with express ordination . Bishops under particular pressure, worried about the future of the Church in their country, consecrated priests that they considered suitable to be bishops without consulting the Vatican. After the fall of the Wall, some of them were officially or tacitly recognized by Rome. In most areas not all names are known, some have since died, while for others the canonical consecration is questionable.

See also

• List of the secret bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Albania
• List of the secret bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania
• List of the secret bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia
• List of secret bishops of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church

literature

• Jan Korec: The night of the barbarians. As a secret bishop in the Church of Silence 1950–1970, Styria, 1996, ISBN 978-3222123313 .

Web links

• Secret hierarchy on the private website www.apostolische-nachnahme.de
• Securitate and Vatican ( Memento from January 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on horch-und-guck.info

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The role of the churches in the transformation process in Eastern (Central) Europe. (PDF; 72 kB) at kirche-in-not.de
2. ^ Czech Republic: Secret Bishop died. Vatican Radio