In memory - Card. Zenon Grocholewski

On July 17, 2020 Card. Zenon Grocholewski was called to the House of the Father. Born on October 11, 1939 in Bródki (Poland), he enrolled in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University, obtaining a Licentiate (1968) and a Doctorate with a dissertation entitled De exclusione indissolubilitatis ex consensu matrimonial eiusque probatione (1973). At that time, at the Gregorian University, it was customary to award a gold medal to all those who had obtained the degree (license or doctorate) with the qualification summa cum laude, a recognition that he was awarded on both occasions.

In 1974 the young  Grocholewski began his activity at the Gregoriana, collaborating with Fr. Ignacio Gordon SJ in the organization of the international courses Renovationis canonicae pro iudicibus; the following year he was appointed Lecturer at the Faculty of Canon Law, continuing his teaching activity even after his episcopal ordination and until his appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (1999) by the Holy Father and then as Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Expert in matrimonial and canonical procedural law - subjects that he also taught at the Gregoriana - and also in administrative law, Card. Grocholewski has held many positions in the Roman Curia and has been called to serve on a large number of commissions of the Holy See. On numerous occasions he has honored our University with his presence. Among these, we would like to recall the Mass of Action of Grace which he presided at the end of the Academic Year 2010-2011, and the words he shared when he opened the homily:

"I am very happy to be able to preside at the Eucharist on the feast day of the Pontifical Gregorian University, and not only because I am its Grand Chancellor, but also and above all because I am a former student of this prestigious academic institution, in which I found valid professors who, in addition to canon law, taught me to love the Church and to serve it with love and commitment. Moreover, I had the privilege of teaching in this Alma Mater for many years. For all this I thank the Lord. Since the Magnificent Rector has written to me that this Mass is meant to be the 'action of thanksgiving', I mean that for personal reasons I too have reason to insert myself in thanksgiving. Then, as Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, I have an even stronger reason to say thank you to the Lord for the Gregoriana, for the good she does for the whole Church and for the world today".

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