Leo Scheffczyk
|
His Eminence Leo Scheffczyck |
|
|---|---|
| Appointed | 21 February 2001 |
| Other posts | Cardinal-Deacon of San Francesco Saverio alla Garbatella |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 29 June 1947 |
| Created Cardinal | 21 February 2001 by Pope John Paul II |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Leo Scheffczyk |
| Born |
21 February 1920 Beuthen, Germany |
| Died | 8 December 2005 Munich, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Motto | Evangelizare investigabiles divitias Christi |
| Coat of arms |  |
Leo Scheffczyk (21 February 1920 in Beuthen O.S. – 8 December 2005 in Munich) was a German cardinal and theologian. He was a long-time theologian at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and one of the strongest advocates for orthodoxy during the long pontificate of John Paul II. During the 1980s and 1990s, he severely criticized some of his former students, e.g. Leonardo Boff, who advocated a Marxist version of liberation theology. Scheffczyk likely played a major role in drafting the most controversial documents, such as Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and Ad Tuendam Fidem. He was made a cardinal in 2001. He was regarded as an important thinker in late twentieth-century Catholicism.
He was born in the city of Beuthen, today Bytom, Poland. He studied during World War II at the famous theological department of the University of Breslau. He moved afterwards to the University of Munich. Scheffczyk was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Munich on 29 June 1947.
Immediately, Scheffczyk took to theological work and within a year of his ordination he was already a Theology professor at the seminary in Königstein im Taunus. He later moved to the more prestigious university at Tübingen. During that time his theological knowledge was already immensely appreciated by his students, including such notables as Walter Kasper. Whilst he was immensely knowledgeable on such subjects as the Virgin Mary, Scheffczyk was not then considered a likely choice for a promotion into the papal curia. Unlike such theologians as Yves Congar, he remained remote from the proceedings of Vatican II, though he undoubtedly understood its thought very well.
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