Vekoslav Grmič | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Maribor | |
 | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Maribor |
| See | Maribor |
| Orders | |
| Rank | Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Died | Maribor, Slovenia |
| Buried | Pobrežje Cemetery, Maribor |
| Nationality | Slovenian |
| Coat of arms |  |
Vekoslav Grmič (4 June 1923 – 21 March 2005) was aSlovenianRoman Catholicbishop andtheologian, known for his sympathy towardssocialist ideas.
He was born in theLower Styrian village ofSveti Jurij ob Ščavnici in what was then theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He studied at aRoman Catholic priest seminary inMaribor. Already as a young man, he became influenced by the social thought ofJanez Evangelist Krek,Edvard Kocbek and theGerman philosopherRomano Guardini. After theinvasion of Yugoslavia and theNazi occupation of northernSlovenia in April 1941, Grmič started collaborating with theCommunist-ledLiberation Front of the Slovenian People.
In 1950, he was ordained priest and between 1952 and 1958 he worked as a parish priest ofVransko. In 1961 he graduated from the Theological Faculty inLjubljana with a thesis on the theological elements in theexistentialist concept ofangst. From 1962 until his retirement in 1991 he taughtdogmatic theology at the same faculty.
In 1968 he was appointedauxiliary bishop of Maribor byPope Paul VI.[1] In 1980, he was removed from office byPope John Paul II, although he nominally maintained the title of bishop and continued to teach at the Theological Faculty in Ljubljana.
Grmič was a strong supporter of theLiberation Theology and of the political-religious thought of theSwiss reformist theologianHans Küng. Together with the fellow Slovene Roman Catholic theologianJanez Janžekovič, he became one of the supporters of a closer collaboration between Roman Catholics and Marxist inYugoslavia. During his lifetime, Grmič published more than 40 books and several translation fromGerman.
In the last decade of his life, he often voiced his opinion in public, thus becoming a somewhat controversial figure. He often held very different views from other members of the local Roman Catholic hierarchy on several issues of social and political matters.[2]
He died inMaribor at the age of 82.
| Settlements | Administrative seat:Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landmarks | ||||||
| Notable people | ||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
