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Archdiocese

The Archdiocese at the beginning of the 3rd millennium

Ecclesiastical and religious life intensified during the 20th century and continued in the first decade of the 21st century. On November 7 and 8, 2001, an international scientific meeting was held in Zagreb on the occasion of the death of Cardinal Franjo Šeper, former archbishop of Zagreb and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Šeper's successor Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), also participated in the meeting, and so did Šeper's successor in Zagreb, Cardinal Franjo Kuharić. The meeting continued in Rome on November 26 and lasted until December 1, 2001, in the presence of numerous Croatian pilgrims and with the attendance of Joseph Ratzinger.

Much-loved, retired Zagreb Archbishop and Cardinal Franjo Kuharić died on March 11, 2002. Numerous faithful bid farewell to him at the square in front of the Zagreb Cathedral on March 14, 2002.

The Pope paid the third visit to Croatia on June 5-9, 2003, when John Paul II visited Rijeka, Dubrovnik, Osijek, Đakovo and Zadar. The faithful of the Archdiocese of Zagreb attended the celebrations with the Pope, especially in Osijek. Shortly after that, on June 22, 2003, the Pope visited neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pope John Paul II announced on September 28, 2003 that he would elevate Archbishop of Zagreb Josip Bozanić to cardinal, which he did on October 21, 2003. With the appointment, the Zagreb Archdiocese See became increasingly reinforced as a cardinal see.
The faithful of the Archdiocese of Zagreb entered the preparatory phase for the Second Synod (31st in total) of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, which started in 2002.

The preparatory phase was carried out at the level of particular parishes, deaneries and communities, and was completed in the first half of 2010. The celebration of the Feast Day of Cardinal Stepinac on February 10 has been gathering numerous believers in the Zagreb Cathedral each year since the 1960s.

The Feast Day of the Mother of God of the Stone Gate is celebrated each year in a very solemn manner. The celebration includes a festive procession from the Cathedral to the Stone Gate, which was introduced by Cardinal Franjo Kuharić. The celebration is led by archbishops and cardinals from different countries each year. A votive pilgrimage of the City of Zagreb to Marija Bistrica is also held each year. The pilgrimage was being held in the month of July until 2001, and in the month of September as of 2002, when it was united with the pilgrimage of the youth from the entire archdiocese to Marija Bistrica.

During 2002 and 2003, the 150th anniversary of the Croatian-Slavonian Ecclesiastical Province, or the Zagreb Metropolitan See, was celebrated at several levels. The province lasted only another five years (until 2008), because two new ecclesiastical provinces were established in its area: The Đakovo-Osijek and Zagreb ecclesiastical provinces.

The Archbishop of Zagreb made a decision to build a new priest house. The old house was situated at  Kaptol 28 from 1972 to 2004. The new St. Joseph's Priest House was consecrated by Archbishop Josip Bozanić on March 22, 2004 at  Kaptol 7, the historical seat of the high provost of the Cathedral Chapter of Zagreb which the Zagreb Chapter donated for this purpose together with the lower part of the manor yard at Kaptol 8.

Pope John Paul II appointed priest Valentin Pozaić, S.J., an auxiliary bishop of Zagreb on February 2, 2005. The solemn celebration of his ordainment as bishop was held in the Zagreb Cathedral on March 19, 2005.
Zagreb's faithful received the news about the death of Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, 2005, with great sorrow. On the other hand, they were also happy about the new Pope, Benedict XVI, who was elected on April 19, 2005.

In July 2006, the Archbishop of Zagreb and Cardinal Josip Bozanić, together with his auxiliary bishops Josip Mrzljak, Vlado Košić and Valentin Pozaić, visited the apostles' graves and Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

On June 3, 2006, Archbishop Josip Bozanić made a decision to found the Catholic University of Croatia, which started operating in 2010. In 2006, the episcopal procedure of beatification of the Servant of God Marica Stanković was launched.

On the New Year's Eve in 2006, Zagreb hosted the European youth meeting, which is organized under the title "The Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth" each year in a different country by the Ecumenical Community of Taize.

Within the Priests' Day celebration on October 1, 2007, the renovated building of the Zagreb Archdiocesan Major Seminary (Nadbiskupsko bogoslovno sjemenište) at Kaptol 29, was consecrated. Novelty in the life of the Archdiocese of Zagreb was the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute, which was opened on November 6, 2007.

A few days later, the Museum of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, which speaks of the decades of martyrdom of the Archdiocese of Zagreb during the term of Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, was opened in a new location.

After auxiliary bishop of Zagreb Josip Mrzljak became Bishop of Varaždin (2007) after the death of Marko Culej, the Archdiocese of Zagreb got a new auxiliary bishop, Ivan Šaško, in early 2008.

The new vitality of the Archdiocese of Zagreb manifested itself in late 2009 and early 2010. On December 5, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI re-established the Diocese of Sisak and established the new Diocese of Bjelovar-Križevci.

He appointed Vlado Košić, former auxiliary bishop of Zagreb, head of the Diocese of Sisak, and named  Vjekoslav Huzjak, who was priest first at the Archdiocese of Zagreb and later at the Diocese of Varaždin and General Secretary of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, head of the Diocese of Bjelovar-Križevci. The Diocese of Sisak was re-established on February 6, 2010 and the Diocese of Bjelovar-Križevci was established on March 20, 2010.

As of 2010, the Diocese of Sisak includes all parishes of the Sisak, Glina-Petrinja, Dubica-Kostajnica, Ivanić-Grad, Kutina and Pokupje-Vukomerec deaneries, and the Vrtlina, Oborovo, Peščenica, Veleševec and Vojnić parishes, or rather the historical archdeaconries of Gora and Dubica (Gora-Dubica as of 1981), i.e. Archdeaconry of Sisak-Gora, 2 deaneries from the Archdeaconry of Čazma-Moslavina plus the Vrtlina and Oborovo parishes, as well as a deanery and a parish of the Archdeaconry of Turopolje in Peščenica.

The Diocese of Bjelovar-Križevci encompasses all parishes of the Bjelovar, Cirkvena, Čazma (save the Vrtlina parish), Garešnica, Križevci, Vrbovec and Zelina deaneries, or rather the historical Kalnik Deanery, i.e. the Archdeaconry of Bjelovar-Kalnik and 2 deaneries of the Archdeaconry of Čazma-Moslavina as of 2001.

Since early 2010, the Archdiocese of Zagreb encompasses the parishes of the Cathedral Archdeaconry (Gornji grad, Maksimir-Trnje, Trešnjevka, Kustošija, Novi Zagreb, Remete, Resnik, Sesvete-Vugrovec deaneries, as well as the Dugo selo Deanery, which was returned from the Archdeaconry of Čazma-Moslavina in 2001-2009, save the Oborovo parish), the Archdeaconry of Karlovac-Gorica (Karlovac, Duga resa-Mrežnica, save the Vojnić parish, Jastrebarsko and Ozalj-Lipnica deaneries), the Archdeaconry of Turopolje (Velika Gorica-Odra, Samobor-Okić and Sveta Nedelja deaneries; save the Pokupje-Vukomerec Deanery without the Peščenica and Veleševec parishes) and Archdeaconry of Zagorje, from which the Bednja Deanery was separated and attached to the Diocese of Varaždin in 1997, and the Zaprešić and Stubica deaneries of the Cathedral Archdeaconry (Krapina, Stubica, Tuhelj-Pregrada, Zaprešić and Zlatar-Belec deaneries) were united with it in 2001. Since the Cathedral Archdeaconry was now too big, with as much as 8 deaneries, Archbishop Josip Cardinal Bozanić made a decision to divide the Cathedral Archdeaconry into two new archdeaconries: Cathedral and Remete-Sesvete.

The Cathedral Archdeaconry now includes the following deaneries: Gornji grad, Maksimir-Trnje, Trešnjevka, Kustošija and Novi Zagreb.

The Archdeaconry of Remete-Sesvete encompasses the following deaneries: Remete, Resnik, Sesvete-Vugrovec and Dugo selo.

This decree became valid on October 1, 2010.

The Archdiocese of Zagreb now has 5 archdeaconries, 21 deaneries and 206 parishes. 365 episcopal and monastic priests served in the archdiocese in 2010 in compliance with the official decree. 283 episcopal priests were incardinated into the Archdiocese of Zagreb.

The seat of the Apostolic Nunciature to the Republic of Croatia is in Zagreb. The three former apostolic nuncios, Giulio Einaudi (1992 – 2003), Francisco-Javier Lozano (2003 – 2008) and Mario Roberto Cassari (2008-2012), as well as Alessandro D'Errico (2012- ) participate in the local Church's life.
Zagreb is also the seat of the Military Ordinariate. The first military ordinary is Juraj Jezerinac, who was an auxiliary bishop of Zagreb until 1997.
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