Msgr. Jan Vokál Has Received Episcopal Ordination

On Saturday, May 7, 2011, Msgr. Jan Vokál has accepted episcopal ordination at the hands of the Vatican Secretary of State, cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in the basilica of St. Peter in Rome. He became the 25th bishop of Hradec Králové.

Vatican: The 25^th bishop of Hradec Králové was jointly ordained by the Vatican Secretary of State, cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Prague archbishop Dominik Duka OP (the former bishop of Hradec Králové), and the Apostolic Nuncius and titulary archbishop of Germania in Numidia, Erwin Josef Ender. The divine service was attended by Msgr. Vokál’s family members and a delegation of bishops, priests, deacons, votaries and faithful from the Czech Republic, who had come to Rome in a special charter flight dispatched by the Episcopacy of Hradec Králové.

Msgr. JUDr. Ing. Jan Vokál, JU.D. was born on September 25, 1958 in Hlinsko in Bohemia as the second of three children to Jan and Anna Vokals. He was growing up in this Christian family and he accepted his first sacraments in the local parish of the Birth of Virgin Mary. After his studies at Middle School of Industry and Electronic Technology in Pardubice, he graduated in cybertechnics from Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1983.

In September 1983, he left for Rome to enter the Pontifical College Nepomucenum. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Lateran University. On July 5, 1988, he was ordained deacon in Ellwangen (Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Germany) by bishop Jaroslav Škarvada and formally incardinated to the diocese of Hradec Králové where he comes from. He continued his diaconal service in St. Dominic Parish (Northfield) and at St. Thomas University (Archdiocese of St. Paul-Mineapolis, USA). He was ordained priest by Pope John Paul II on May 28, 1989 in the basilica of St. Peter in Vatican.

Between 1989 and 1990, he served as a parish vicar of Epiphany Church (Diocese of Peoria, USA) and on September 1, 1991 he entered the service of Vatican Secretariat of State (Section for General Affairs) where he has worked until this day. He has studied Utroque Jura at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, where he earned a licentiate in 2005 and a doctorate in 2008. He is a holder of a Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Diploma (a study in marital cases 1991-1992) and a Congregation for the Causes of Saints Diploma (a study of the postulates of cases 2004-2005). In 2009, he underwent a rigorous examination (examen rigorosum) on constitutional law at the Charles University in Prague and earned the title JUDr. (Juris Utrisque Doctor).

Between 1995 and 2005, Jan Vokál worked as personal secretary of cardinal Corrado Bafile (the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints). In 2005, he was named the coadjutor of canon capitulary at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he had been at sacerdotal service. In 1995, 1997 and 2009, he was a member of the papal entourage during pastoral visits of the Holy Father to the Czech Republic.

In 1997, the title of a Chaplain of His Holiness was conferred upon him by Pope John Paul II and in 2007, the higher title of a Honorary Prelate of His Holiness Benedict XVI followed. On June 28, 2005, the then bishop of Hradec Králové and current archbishop of Prague, Dominik Duka OP had ranked Msgr. Jan Vokál among honorary capitulars of the Cathedral Capitulary of the Holy Spirit in Hradec Králové. On March 3, 2011, the Holy Father Benedict XVI named him the bishop of Hradec Králové.

A photographic documentation of the ordination ceremony is being prepared