Vinko Puljić
Vinko Puljić is a Bosnian Croat prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal since 1994. He was the archbishop of Vrhbosna from 1991 to 2022.
Early life and education
The twelfth of thirteen children, Vinko Puljić was born in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Ivan and Kaja Puljić. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father then remarried. In addition to his family, young Vinko's spiritual formation was deeply influenced by the Trappist Mariastern Abbey, located not far from his native village. One of the monks helped Vinko's father to send his son to the minor seminary of Zagreb. Father Ante Artner sold his motorbike and gave the proceeds to Vinko's father, who did not have enough money to pay his board there. Vinko then studied philosophy and theology at the major seminary of Đakovo.Priesthood
Puljić was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Stjepan Bauerlein on 29 June 1970, and then served as a chaplain in the Diocese of Banja Luka until 1973, whence he became an official of the diocesan curia. He was a parish priest in Sasina from June to November 1973, and in Ravska from 1973 to 1978. In 1978, he was named spiritual director of the minor seminary of Zadar. During this time, he also served as a confessor at a Benedictine monastery and organised spiritual retreats for priests, seminarians, and nuns.In 1987, he returned to the Diocese of Banja Luka, where he served as a parish priest in Bosanska Gradiška. He was later transferred to Sarajevo in 1990 as vice-rector of the Sarajevo major seminary.
Episcopal ministry
On 19 November 1990, Puljić was appointed Archbishop of Vrhbosna by Pope John Paul II. He thus became the sixth archbishop of that see after the reconstruction of the ordinary ecclesiastical hierarchy in 1881, after the Ottoman occupational rule which had lasted more than four centuries. He received his episcopal consecration on 6 January 1991 from John Paul II himself, with archbishops Giovanni Battista Re and Justin Francis Rigali serving as co-consecrators, at St. Peter's Basilica.Puljić was created Cardinal-Priest of S. Chiara a Vigna Clara by John Paul II in the consistory of 26 November 1994. He was 49 years old when he became the youngest member of the College of Cardinals. On 18 October 2001 he was invested as bailiff of the Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Puljić was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave, which selected Pope Benedict XVI and in the 2013 papal conclave, which elected Pope Francis. He was the oldest of five cardinal electors appointed by John Paul II to vote in the 2025 papal conclave, which elected Pope Leo XIV.
He served as president of the Bishops' Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1995 to 2002, and again from 2005 to 2010. On 18 September 2012 Pope Benedict XVI named him as a Synod Father of the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which was held in October 2012. From 29 January 2022, he has been Archbishop emeritus of Vrhbosna.
Views
Role during the Bosnian War
When the Bosnian War broke out in 1992, Puljić immediately became involved in helping the thousands of refugees and exiles, mobilising all the forces of the local Church.During the war, he frequently risked his life while making pastoral trips to his parishes; he was imprisoned during one visit for twelve hours by the Serbian military in Ilijaš, running a serious risk when he rode in a United Nations Protection Force tank to Vareš. John Paul II once said to him, "When I imposed hands on you...to consecrate you in the office of Pastor of the Church of Sarajevo, I had no idea that very shortly your cross would be so heavy and your cup so bitter."