František Tondra

František Tondra ( born June 4, 1936 in Spišské Vlachy, Czechoslovak Republic, † 3, 2012 in Košice ) was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Spis ( Zips ) in eastern Slovakia.

Life

Tondra studied Catholic theology and philosophy in Bratislava. The ordination he received on 1 July 1962. After several years of pastoral work, he received his doctorate in 1978. During the years 1983-1989 he was Professor of Moral Theology at the Comenius University in Bratislava.

On 26 July 1989 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop of Spis. He received his episcopal consecration of the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, in Spišské Podhradie on September 9, 1989. Were co-consecrators the apostolic nuncio, Francesco Colasuonno, and the Archbishop of Trnava, Ján Sokol.

In 1990 he was elected vice-chairman in 1991, succeeding Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek to the Chairman of the Bishops' Conference of Czechoslovakia. After Slovakia became politically independent, they also received a separate Slovak Bishops' Conference, the Bishop Tondra on 4 May 1993 as its chairman elected. For health reasons, he was already in April 1994, from this office, but was in August 2000, re-elected as Chairman of the Slovak Bishops' Conference and in each case confirmed in 2003 and 2006. He was consultant to the Congregation for Catholic Education.

August 4, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI. the František Tondra put forward reasons of age resignation from the office of Bishop of Spis on.

Honors and Awards

• 2003 - Slovak Prince Pribinov Cross ( 1st class) by the Slovak President Rudolf Schuster