Archbishop Alojzij Cvikl

Fr. Alojzij Cvikl, SJ (baptismal name Alojzij), was born on June 19, 1955, in Celje, within the parish of Nova Cerkev. He attended the first four grades of primary school in Nova Cerkev and continued his education in Dobrna. He went on to attend the Second Gymnasium in Maribor, residing at the Jesuit minor seminary during that time. He passed his final secondary school exams in 1974. In the autumn of that same year, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. He completed his military service in Novo Mesto in 1976. In 1977, he enrolled at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana; in the autumn of 1979, he undertook practical training at the Jesuit college in Turin, serving as an educator and catechist. He continued his theological studies in 1980 in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a deacon on March 28, 1983, in Rome, and a priest on July 3, 1983, in his home parish. He received ordination from the Auxiliary Bishop of Maribor, Msgr. Dr. Jožef Smej. He served as a curate in the Ljubljana-Dravlje parish, dedicating his pastoral work especially to young people and married couples. In 1988, he pursued postgraduate studies in Brussels at the Lumen Vitae faculty, specializing in pedagogy and catechetics. In 1990, he defended his master's thesis, written in French, titled *Adult Education in the Parish*. In the autumn of that same year, he was appointed parish priest of Ljubljana-Dravlje. In the spring of 1993, he went to Padua to complete his Jesuit formation, and on August 15, he pronounced his solemn vows in Dravlje. Msgr. Dr. Alojzij Šuštar, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ljubljana, appointed him the first director of the Jeglič Student Residence at the St. Stanislav Institute in Šentvid nad Ljubljano and entrusted him with the task of making all the necessary preparations for the residence to begin operations (preparing the premises and the educational program, and recruiting the initial staff). Fr. Cvikl was the first Religious Education teacher at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium and also served as assistant principal for one year; he taught Religious Education at the school for eight years. In the spring of 1995, he was appointed Provincial of the Slovenian Province of the Society of Jesus, a role he held until 2001. In January 1996, he became president of the Association of Major Religious Superiors. During his presidency, in 1999, the Association was renamed the Conference of Religious Institutes of Slovenia. During his tenure as Provincial—and prior to Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Slovenia—the Church of St. Joseph in the Poljane district of Ljubljana was returned to the Jesuits; following its renovation, it was consecrated on November 5, 2000. He also worked towards the completion and consecration of the church in Kočevska Reka, which was administered at the time by the Jesuit Fr. Franc Šetar. During this period, he served on various commissions and played an active role in preparations for the synod and both papal visits. From 1997 to 2002, he actively participated in the synod secretariat, assisting with the drafting of texts and attending numerous deanery gatherings across Slovenia. In 2001, he became Rector of the Pontifical Russian College (Russicum) in Rome. During his tenure, the college underwent extensive renovation, and a community of religious sisters took up residence there. In March 2009, his book *Il Padre. Servire nel nascondimento – Maksimilijan Žitnik SJ* was published; in it, he presents the life and work of his fellow Jesuit, with whom he had shared the final years of life at the college. After completing his mission in Rome in late September 2010, he had planned to spend a sabbatical year in Malta. However, due to the financial difficulties of the Archdiocese of Maribor, he had to alter his plans, as he accepted the temporary role of bursar in November 2010. Alongside this assignment, he also took on the role of pastoral assistant in Vitanje.