Bishop Vlastimil Kročil

ThDr. Vlastimil Kročil, Ph.D., was born on 10 May 1961 in Brno and grew up in a Christian family environment. After passing the secondary-school leaving examination in 1986, during the following years he applied three times to the priestly seminary in Litoměřice; because he was not accepted, he decided to emigrate. He studied theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and received priestly ordination on 16 July 1994 in the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in České Budějovice. After obtaining a licentiate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from 1996 he began teaching patristic literature and spirituality at the Faculty of Theology of the University of South Bohemia. In pastoral ministry he first served as chaplain in České Budějovice and then in Jindřichův Hradec; in 1997 he became administrator in Veselí nad Lužnicí and the surrounding parishes. In 2008 he obtained a doctorate at the Catholic University in Ružomberok and, alongside regular pastoral activity, also devoted himself to the spiritual accompaniment of members of the Fatima Apostolate and the Neocatechumenal Way. From 2008 he was a member of the college of consultors of the Diocese of České Budějovice; in 2011 he was appointed vicar of the Tábor vicariate, and the following year he was appointed a resident canon of the cathedral chapter at Saint Nicholas in České Budějovice. On 19. 3. 2015 he was appointed diocesan bishop of the Diocese of České Budějovice by the Holy Father Francis. He received episcopal ordination on Saturday 13. 6. 2015 in the cathedral of České Budějovice from Cardinal Dominik Duka; the co-consecrators were Apostolic Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza and Bishop Jiří Paďour. He is a member of the Permanent Council of the Czech Bishops' Conference and of the Economic-Legal Commission. He is delegate of the Council for Information Technology and of the Council for Laity and Movements.