KÖNIG, FRANZ BORGIA

Cardinal, archbishop of Vienna; b. Aug. 3, 1905, Rabenstein, Lower Austria into a farmer's family, the eldest of 10 children. He attended the grammar school of the Benedictine Monastery of Melk, and in 1927 went on to Collegium Germanicum-Hungaricum in Rome, where he

studied philosophy (Ph.D., 1930) and theology (Ph.D., 1936) and was ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 29, 1933. During his stay in Rome he also studied old Persian religions and languages at the Pontifical Institute Biblicum. After his return to his home diocese of Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria, he served as chaplain in smaller parishes and then as curate to the cathedral. His teaching career began in 1945 with an appointment to lecture in religious studies at the University of Vienna; from 1948 to 1952 he taught moral theology at the University of Salzburg. He published widely in the field of comparative religion, his chief work being the three-volume Christus und die Religionen der Erde (1948). In 1952 he was elected titular bishop of Liviade and appointed coadjutor of Sankt Pölten, with right of succession. Continuing his work in religious studies he compiled his Religion-swissenschaftliches Wörterbuch (1956) and was appointed editor for the second edition of the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (10 vols). Pope Pius XII appointed him archbishop of Vienna in 1956, and two years later he was created cardinal, with the title of S. Eusebio, by Pope John XXIII. He was also the ordinary for Greek-rite Catholics living in Austria and, from 1959 to 1968, military vicar of Austria. In 1959 Cardinal König founded the Afro-Asian-Institute in Vienna as a platform for intercultural and interreligious exchange between the Christian West and the newly emancipated Afro-Asian countries. This spontaneous experiment gave him a clear vision and firm attitude at the Second Vatican Council regarding religious freedom (declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 1965) and interreligious dialogue (declaration Nostra Aetate, 1965). König was appointed to the Central Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council and for the first session served in the Theological Commission. Karl Rahner was his peritus at the council.

In 1965 Pope Paul VI appointed Cardinal König president of the Secretariat for Non-Believers, a position he held until 1980. A concern for dialogue—ecumenical, interreligious, church-state—was the hallmark of his public activity. In Austria he tried to heal the wounds of civil war and the dissent of pre-war Austria (Austro-fascism vs. Austro-Marxism) by reconciling trade unions and socialists with the church. A breakthrough was achieved by his lecture at the General Assembly of the Austrian Trade Unions 1973, "Kirche und Gesellschaft." His first diplomatic contacts with eastern churches under communist oppression resulted in a profound ecumenical engagement with Orthodoxy and Old Oriental Churches from which the foundation "Pro Oriente" took its origin (1964). The resulting mutual visits and free theological exchange bore rich fruit, including the "Vienna Formula" (1993), which cleared old misunderstandings in Christology by a commonly accepted definition of the natures and person of Christ with a large impact on interecclesial relationships. The global dimension of the gospel's message led Cardinal König to cooperate with the Congregation of World Mission in Rome (1968). He also made notable attempts to engage in dialogue with scholars. In 1968 he offered an attempt to reconcile natural sciences and Christian faith with "Der Fall Galilei." He also helped to found the "Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen" (1983), which since that time has held biennial seminars with the pope at Castel Gandolfo. In 1985 Cardinal König resigned his archbishopric. For the next five years he served as president of "Pax Christi International."

It is widely held that Cardinal König took the lead in advancing the candidacy of Karol Wojtyła in the 1978 conclave that elected him as Pope John Paul II.

Bibliography: a. schifferle, Geduld und Vertrauen: Franz Kardinal König—Texte und Gespräche. (Freiburg 1995). a. fenzl and r. fÖldy, eds. Franz Kardinal König. Haus auf festem Grund. (1994). f. kÖnig, Appelle an Gewissen und Vernunft (1996). j. kunz, ed. Kardinal Franz König: Ansichten eines engagierten Kirchenmannes. (1991).

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