ZAGREB, February 14, 2020 – Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Friday posthumously bestowed the Grand Order of President of the Republic Franjo Tuđman with Sash and Morning Star on the former Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Franjo Kuharić, for his role as a moral authority in the Croatian nation.
Addressing the ceremony, President Grabar-Kitarović said that Kuharić had deserved this award for his efforts in the promotion of the Croatian cause and the state and national unity.
In this context, the president underscored the exemplary roles played by both Cardinal Kuharić and President Tuđman whom she described as two great men.
The decision on awarding this new grand order to Kuharić was announced on 10 December when Croatia observed the 20th anniversary of Tuđman’s death.
“A country that respects and honours and can promote the legacy of its political and spiritual great men can have a safe future,” the president said.
She recalled that Cardinal Kuharić was fully committed to the well-being of Catholic believers and every man as well as to the well-being of his people and homeland.
She praised the dignitary for his dedication to inter-ethnic reconciliation and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.
At the ceremony held in the office of the president, the award was received by Kuharić’s successor, Cardinal Josip Bozanić.
Kuharić was born in Gornji Pribić in 1919 and died in Zagreb on 12 March 2002. He was an honorary member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was ordained a bishop in 1964 and was named the Archbishop of Zagreb in 1970. In 1983, Pope John Paul II named him a cardinal.
Kuharić is venerated as a Servant of God. In 2012, ten years after his death, the current Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Bozanić, launched a procedure required by the Church to investigate the possibility of beatifying Cardinal Kuharić.
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