Otto Wüst

Otto Wüst (born May 26, 1926 in Sursee ; † August 19, 2002 ibid) was a Swiss Roman Catholic clergyman and from 1982 to 1993 Bishop of Basel .

Life

Wüst grew up in Sursee and attended the schools in his hometown and the grammar school of the canton school in Lucerne , where he graduated with the federal Matura in 1947. Through philosophical and theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome , he prepared for his career as a priest at the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urbe and was ordained a priest in 1953 . In 1956 he was with a thesis on the historical development of the doctrine of "potestas vicaria divina" as a doctor of theology doctorate . He was then vicar for four years at Bern's Marienkirche and in 1960 he became general secretary of the Swiss Catholic People's Association based in Lucerne.

In 1966 Otto Wüst entered the service of the diocese leadership of the diocese of Basel, initially as Regens of the Solothurn seminary , two years later as diocesan personnel manager.

Pope Paul VI appointed Otto Wüst as auxiliary bishop in Basel in 1975 and appointed him titular bishop of Tubia . The then bishop Anton Hänggi donated him episcopal ordination on February 1, 1976 . After the resignation of Anton Hänggi in 1982 it chose the Cathedral Chapter the new bishop of the diocese of Basel.

For eleven years he was at the head of the most populous of the six Swiss dioceses. His work was initially shaped by the implementation of the reforms laid down in the Second Vatican Council and the Swiss Synod 72 . At the national level, Wüst was President of the Fastenopfers of Swiss Catholics and represented the Swiss Bishops' Conference at the Roman Synod of Bishops in 1983 .

In 1993, a persistent illness forced Wüst to take several months off work. In the summer of 1993, on medical advice, the bishop asked Pope John Paul II to release him from his official duties. The resignation remained secret for the time being and was only announced after its acceptance by the Pope on October 26, 1993.

On January 14, 1994 the cathedral chapter elected Hansjörg Vogel as his successor.

On August 19, 2002, the former bishop died in Sursee Hospital after a long, serious illness; he was buried on August 26th in the crypt of St. Ursus Cathedral in Solothurn .

Web links

• Literature by and about Otto Wüst in the catalog of the German National Library
• Victor Conzemius: Wüst, Otto. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Entry on Otto Wüst on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved July 8, 2016.

predecessor	Office	successor
Anton Hänggi	Bishop of Basel 1982–1993	Hansjörg Vogel