Franz König (3 August 1905 – 13 March 2004) was an Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. The last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope John XXIII, he was the second-oldest and longest-serving cardinal worldwide at the time of his death.
Early life and ministry
König was born in Warth near Rabenstein, Lower Austria, as the oldest of the nine children of Franz and Maria König. He attended the Benedictine-run Stiftsgymnasium Melk and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received his doctorate in philosophy on 9 July 1930 and then his doctorate in theology on 21 January 1936. He also studied at the Pontifical German-Hungarian College, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, where he specialized in old Persian languages and religion, and the Université Catholique de Lille. During his studies in Rome he was in contact with Heinrich Maier, who later became the head of the very important resistance group against Nazi Germany.
Ordained as a priest on 29 October 1933 by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti-Selvaggiani, he originally served as a chaplain and teacher during World War II, his main concern at that time being youth ministry. Following this, König pursued an academic career, being appointed Privatdozent, later teaching religion at the College of Krems and the University of Vienna (1945–1948) and moral theology at the University of Salzburg (1948–1952).
On 3 July 1952, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Sankt Pölten and Titular Bishop of Livias by Pope Pius XII. König received his episcopal consecration on the following 31 August from Bishop Michael Memelauer, with Bishops Leo Pietsch and Franz Zauner serving as co-consecrators.
Archbishop of Vienna
Remaining as Coadjutor Bishop for just under four years, he was named the fourteenth Archbishop of Vienna, succeeding Theodor Innitzer. König was created Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of 15 December 1958. This was an unexpected action on the part of John XXIII, who had been advised to withhold the red hat from König due to the unclear legal situation of the Church in Austria: the Austrian coalition government, on the insistences of Social Democratic Party ministers, refused to accept the concordat negotiated between the Holy See and Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss's Austrofascist government.
After meeting personally with König, John XXIII decided that, "I have a different opinion. I will put you on my list and you will find a solution". By 1958 the newly appointed Cardinal König had managed to convince the authorities in Austria to recognise the earlier regulations in a new treaty, which was signed in 1961. In 1964 he founded the organization Pro Oriente, to promote the relationship between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
After the first meeting between Church and Freemasonry which had been held on 11 April 1969 at the convent of the Divine Master in Ariccia, he was the protagonist of a series of public handshakes between high prelates of the Roman Catholic Church and the heads of Freemasonry.
König was appointed Bishop for the Catholic military ordinariate of Austria on 21 February 1959, a position he resigned on 27 June 1980. He has also served as President of the Austrian Episcopal Conference.
Within the Church, König worked to ensure a diverse communion that was united despite the apparent differences, with König himself holding both conservative and liberal viewpoints.
He was an elector in three conclaves: 1963 and the two conclaves of 1978.
Views
Ecumenism and Interfaith
He was mainly concerned with questions of ecumenism, however also serving as president of the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Believers (which in 1993 was united with the Pontifical Council for Culture) from 6 April 1965 until his resignation on 27 June 1980.
He was an advocate of reform at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), serving on its preparatory commissions and greatly contributing to its declaration on non-Christian religions, Nostra aetate.