The funeral of the Archbishop Metropolitan emeritus of Ljubljana Alojzij utar (born on 14/11/1920) took place in the square in front of Ljubljana Cathedral on 2 July. The archbishop had died in the Slovene capital on 29 June 2007. The rite was officiated by Cardinal Franc Rodé, Archbishop Metropolitan emeritus of Ljubljana. At its end the body was laid to rest in the cathedral. At Archbishop utar’s wish, the faithful were asked not to send flowers but to make an offering to the St. Stanislaus Institute in the capital or to other charities. “It was John Paul II who appointed Msgr. utar as Archbishop of Ljubljana on 23 February 1980”, recalls the spokesman of the Slovene bishops Father Andrei Saje. “As a theologian and moralist he gave a decisive new direction to the local Church, opening it to an international dimension, but he also left his mark on the life of the Slovene people in their relations to the State and their pursuit of democracy. His experience of 27 years spent in Switzerland, where he had performed his ministry as a lecturer in philosophy, religion and moral theology, was of great help to him. From 1971 to 1976 he was Secretary of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE). During his ministry as bishop the Vatican created the Slovene Episcopal Conference on 19 February 1993, and he himself became its first President”. As his second successor as general secretary of the CCEE, Monsignor Aldo Giordano has sent to a message on behalf of the CCEE as a whole, expressing “the great gratitude of the European bishops for the service of Msgr. utar to the proclamation of the Gospel in Europe and communion between the Bishops’ Conferences as first secretary of the CCEE in the years 1971-1976”. “He can be considered the co-founder of the CCEE – writes Giordano -. Archbishop utar now lives in the abode of the Triune God to whom he bore witness throughout his life. To his prayer and intercession we entrust Europe today with all its struggles and hopes, its pursuit of reconciliation between Christians, cooperation between the Bishops’ Conferences and the evangelization of our countries.
