The Holy Father Leo XIV has appointed Monsignor Marián Andrej Pacák, CSsR, Apostolic Visitor for Slovak Greek-Catholic faithful residing in Western Europe. This information was announced on Friday, March 13, by the Holy See Press Office.
Bishop Pacák, Bishop Emeritus of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite, succeeds Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, recently appointed Eparchial Bishop of Bratislava.
The Archeparchy of Prešov published a brief statement by Bishop Pacák on its Facebook profile, in which he expressed his gratitude to the Pope for this appointment. As he assumes his new mission, he asks that they remember him in their prayers. Finally, addressing the Redemptorists, he thanks them for the support received thus far and encourages them to continue collaborating for the glory of God and the benefit of the entire Church community.
Bishop Marián Andrej Pacák was born on April 24, 1973, in Levoča. He has eleven siblings, two of whom are priests. He is a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer – The Redemptorists. He made his religious profession on August 15, 1994. He completed his studies in philosophy and theology in Kraków, Tuchów, and Rome (1991–1998). He was ordained a priest on July 12, 1998, at the Redemptorist monastery in Michalovce. He completed postgraduate studies specializing in moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome.
He served as assistant parish priest in the parish of Stará Ľubovňa (1998–2001), spiritual assistant of the religious order in the Redemptorist Convent in Rome at the parish of San Gioacchino (2001–2004), editor-in-chief of the Misionár publishing house and of the Misionár magazine in Michalovce (2004–2008) and at the same time treasurer of the vice-province (2004–2007), superior of the Redemptorist monastery in Stará Ľubovňa and administrator of the local Greek-Catholic parish (2008–2015) and member of the consultative body of the Redemptorist community in Stropkov (2015–2016).
From 2016 until his appointment as bishop, he studied canon law and Eastern Church law remotely at the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland and served as spiritual administrator of the chapel of the Holy Trinity Monastery of the cloistered nuns of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer in Vranov nad Topľou-Lomnica.
On the occasion of the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 5 July 2018, the Apostolic Nunciature to Slovakia announced that the Holy Father Francis has appointed Marián Andrej Pacák, CSsR, eparchial bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of Byzantine Rite in Toronto, Canada.
He was consecrated bishop on September 2, 2018, in the Minor Basilica of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Michalovce. The principal consecrator was the then Metropolitan Archbishop of Prešov, Ján Babjak SJ. The co-consecrators were Vladyka Milan Chautur CSsR, then Eparchial Bishop of Košice, and Vladyka Peter Rusnák, then Eparchial Bishop of Bratislava.
Archbishop Pacák was installed on September 15, 2018, in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary on Shaw Street in Toronto, Canada. Archbishop Cyril Vasiľ SJ, then Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, was present at the ceremony and gave the homily.
On October 20, 2020, the late Pope Francis accepted the request of Vladyka Marián, who resigned from the office of eparchial bishop. As bishop emeritus, he resides at the Redemptorist monastery in Stará Ľubovňa.
(source: press.vatican.va, Prešovská archieparchia – Facebook)
