Msgr. Dr. Valentin Pozaić: in memoriam
16 May 2023
Msgr. Dr. Valentin Pozaić, a founder and the first ecclesiastical assistant of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society and a former ecclesiastical assistant of the FEAMC (1996–2016), has died. (September 15, 1945–May 15, 2023)
With a heavy heart, we announce the death of Msgr. Dr. Valentin Pozaić, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, on May 15, 2023, at the age of seventy-seven in the fiftieth year of his priesthood and the nineteenth year of his episcopate. Msgr. Pozaić was also a founder and the first ecclesiastical assistant of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society.
He was born on September 15, 1945, in Selnica, the parish of Marija Bistrica. At the end of his second year at the Archdiocesan Gymnasium in Zagreb, he joined the Society of Jesus, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1973. He began his studies in philosophy and theology at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb, which he continued at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a baccalaureate in moral theology in 1975 and a doctorate in 1984. Upon returning to Zagreb, he taught moral theology and Christian ethics at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology of the Society of Jesus and founded the Center for Bioethics. He furthered his education and engaged in research at the Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute of Ethics in Washington, D.C., the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics in London and the Institut Borja de Bioètica in Barcelona. From 1990 to 1994, he taught bioethics at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
On February 2, 2005, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Bishop of Petina and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Zagreb. His episcopal ordination took place on March 19, 2005, in the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary in Zagreb. On May 13, 2017, the Apostolic Nunciature in Zagreb announced that Pope Francis had accepted Msgr. Pozaić’s resignation from the office of Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Zagreb due to health reasons.
Until the earthquake in Zagreb on March 22, 2020, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Pozaić chose to reside at the College of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb, where he had served as rector from 1994 to 2000. After the earthquake, he moved to the St. Joseph Home for Retired Priests in Zagreb.
In 1991, together with a group of physicians, pharmacists and university professors, he founded the Croatian Catholic Medical Society, serving as its first ecclesiastical assistant until his retirement in 2018. In addition, from 1996 to 2016, he was the ecclesiastical assistant of the European Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FEAMC), in which he was esteemed as “prepared, cordial, mild, clear, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church and the Pope,” according to Prof. Vincenzo Defilippis, President of FEAMC. Bishop Pozaić’s last encounter with the members of the international organizations of FEAMC and FIAMC (the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations) took place during the Twenty-Fifth Congress of the FIAMC, which was held in Zagreb from May 30 to June 2, 2018.
Bishop Pozaić, i.e., Pater Pozaić (as we called him until his episcopal ordination), was not only our ecclesiastical assistant but also the key figure in the founding of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society, its organization and the determination of its fundamental directions regarding development and activities. Moreover, in addition to his formal obligations in the Society, he was like a caring father to many of our members, following not only our formation as Catholic physicians and pharmacists but also our professional careers and family lives. He married many of our members, baptized our children, administered the Sacrament of Confirmation, visited us in our homes, ministered to our loved ones, and provided us with spiritual advice as well as paternal affection.
Since 2018, when illness compelled him to resign from the position of our ecclesiastical assistant, we saw him less frequently. Nevertheless, every encounter was an occasion of joy and happiness. We were together on the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Croatian Catholic Medical Association, when he celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zagreb. He also joined us at the Assembly of our Society held at the National Shrine of our Lady of Maria Bistrica on September 25, 2021, when he was proclaimed an honorary member of the Society for his exceptional contribution to the establishment and work of the Society in the promotion of Christian principles within healthcare.
His episcopal motto, Elige vitam!—Choose life!, clearly expressed his life’s mission, which he incorporated into the Statutes of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society: the protection of human life from conception to natural death. In a symbolic manner, he also expressed this message on the occasion of his episcopal ordination in 2005 on the Feast of St. Joseph, the patron saint of fathers and the Croatian homeland, when one of the Mass readings was read by a member of our Society, Dr. Renata Vrsalović, at the time nine months pregnant with her son Jakov.
Our Bishop (Pater) Pozaić left us a great legacy: the love of God, the love of our fellow man and the love of our homeland, but also the quest for the sincere and compassionate care of our patients, fraternal love for our colleagues and faith in the progress of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society and the international associations of Catholic physicians.
Eternal rest grant him, O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine upon him!
Rest in peace!
Rok Čivljak
President of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society
Valentin Pozaić: Curriculum
Msgr Valentin Pozaić was born in 1945 in Selnica, Marija Bistrica parish, to father Janko and mother Agata Salar.
He attended elementary school in Selnica, Bedekovčine, and he enrolled in seminary high school at Šalata in Zagreb. After finishing the second grade, he joined the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy and theology at the Philosophy and Theology Institute of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb.
He was ordained a priest on 24th June 1973, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in moral theology in 1975, and in 1984 he received his doctorate in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 1977 to 1979, he was a member of the editorial staff of the Croatian program of Radio Vatican. He returned to Zagreb and assumed the position of professor of moral theology at the Philosophical and Theological Institute of the Society of Jesus. From 1990 to 1994, he taught the subject of bioethics at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was a professor of Christian ethics at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb.
Msgr Pozaic founded the Center for Bioethics at the Philosophical and Theological Institute of the Society of Jesus and improved his specialization at the “Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute of Ethics” in Washington, at the “Linacre” Center for Health Care Ethics” in London, and at the “Instituto Borja de Bioetica” in Barcelona.
Msgr Pozaić founded Croatian Catholic Medical Society1991, aphter founding of Independent Republic of Croatia. From 1991 he was the Ecclesiastical Assistant of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society (CCMS), and from 1996 he was the Ecclesiastical Assistant of the European Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FEAMC, Fédération Européenne des Associations de Médecins Catholiques).
The collection entitled “Choose life – Elige vitam!”, published on the occasion of the bishop’s 75th birthday, and presented on 23rd June 2021, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences University of Zagreb.
Prof Jasenka Markeljević
IN MEMORIAM
Msgn VALENTIN POZAIĆ – PHOTOS
1. FEAMC Board meeting (Zagreb, 2013)
At the Croatian Parliament, the meeting participants were received by the deputy speaker, Academician Željko Reiner, who arranged for them to have a special tour of the building. During an introductory presentation and conversation with a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia and the Parliament of the European Union, Andrej Plenković, M.S. current Prime minister, they learned about the functioning of the political institutions in Croatia. Our guests also attended a reception at Dverce Palace in the Upper Town that evening.
The working meeting of the FEAMC
Executive Committee was held at Hotel Palace, where the Guide on the Decision Making Process regarding Medical Treatment in End-of-Life Situations, issued by the Council of Europe Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO), was discussed. This document was put together by the Committee on Bioethics in compliance with the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo,1997). All the guests received promotional gift packages from the Tourism Association and a 25 HRK coin issued in the year 2000 on the occasion of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Croatia, with an image of a human fetus symbolizing life.
In the afternoon, everyone gathered at the Church of St. Catherine, where mass was celebrated by Msgr. Dr. Valentin Pozaić, Auxiliary Bishop of Zagreb, and enriched
enhanced by the soprano Nikolina Pinko, accompanied on the violin by the medical student Hrvoje Tomašić.
In the evening, at the invitation of the president of the Croatian Medical Association, the participants attended a concert by the same musicians.
2. COMMEMORATING THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF CCMS ( 2016, Zagreb)
Msgn Valentin Pozaić – Welcome speech on the occasion of commemorating the 25th anniversary of CCMS:
“A socio-political community that only in theory accepts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, and in practice accepts and tolerates the most diverse forms of disrespect and violation of human life, can have neither a secure present nor a secure future.”
The celebration was marked by the presence of state and high-ranking officials from scientific, religious, and international institutions as well as dignitaries, including the Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković and Deputy Parliament Speaker Academic Željko Reiner.
The mass celebrated in St. Mark’s church was led by the Auxiliary Bishop of Zagreb, Msgr. Valentin Pozaić, to the CCMS and FEAMC, and concelebrated by the Rector of HKS, Professor Željko Tanjić, Dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty, Professor Tonći Matulić, Vicedean Assistant Professor Dalibor Renić, Professor Stjepan Baloban from the Catholic Faculty of Theology, priest of the Zagreb branch fra Dražen Tomić and priests of the other branches of CCMS.
Let’s remind ourselves of his inspiring sermon at the Church St Marko when he noted:
“Sublimity and the value of a faithful and personal life here on Earth, in the perspective of eternity, whose members of the Society want to dedicate all their skills, their knowledge, and aptitudes, shines in the message of the prophet Jeremiah: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you left your mother’s lap I consecrated you.’ Man is a supreme being, created from love, in order to live and act out of love and to find his last encounter with his meaning, with an
everlasting love in life beyond infinity. Man is a living icon, created by God for eternal communion of love with his Creator; he added and warned that Satan, the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning, through his satellites, spreads the culture of death, especially in the most vulnerable moments of life. First, parents legalized the killing of their children, abortion; now, children have legalized the killing of their parents, euthanasia. In a world of lost ideals and values, from the Catholic health worker, it is expected to be an evangelical city on the mountain, salt of the earth, the light of the world, and particularly to be an apostle of the culture of life.”
3. THE 25th FIAMC CONGRESS “SANCTITY OF LIFE AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL FROM HUMANA VITAE TO LAUDATO SI” ( 2018, Zagreb, Westin)
Welcome speech at the opening ceremony of the 25th FIAMC Congress Prof Vincenzo Defilippis:
“Msgr Valentin Pozaić was esteemed as prepared, cordial, mild, clear, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church and the Pope.”
Prof Jasenka Markeljević:
“Considering the importance of recognizing the identity of Catholic doctors in the context of ethical relativism and transhumanism in the world and promotion of ethical principles in medicine based on Catholic church doctrine, the significant role of the bishop in peace, Msgr. Valentin Pozaić, as spiritual assistant of CCMS, is irreplaceable in order to express absolute truth in our everyday life, in our minds and our hearts”.
4. THE PRESENTATION CEREMONY OF THE COLLECTION ENTITLED “CHOOSE LIFE – ELIGE VITAM!” (JUNE 23, 2021, AT THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB)
“Life is a gift, an unspeakable gift, a priceless gift, a gift in time for eternity. Life is a prerequisite for all other values and values,” said Msgr. Ph.D. Valentin Pozaić, auxiliary bishop of Zagreb in peace, from his speech at the end of the presentation ceremony of the collection entitled “Choose life – Elige vitam!”, published on the occasion of the bishop’s 75th birthday, and presented on June 23, 2021, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences University of Zagreb.
“CHOSE LIFE- ELIGE VITAM“
Prof. Jasenka Markeljević, MD, PhD
FEAMC Board member (2003-2019)
Vice president of FEAMC (2013-2015)
FIAMC ExCo member
CCMS Board member (2003-2019)
President of the organizing Committee of The 25 FIAMC Congress Zagreb, 2018,
Organizer of FEAMC Board meeting, Zagreb,2011, and 25 aniversary CCMS, Zagreb, 2016
