Christoph Schönborn
Dominican theologian, born in 1945 in what is now the Czech Republic, who was secretary of the commission that drafted the Catechism of the Catholic Church from 1987 to 1992. He became archbishop of Vienna in 1995 and a cardinal in 1998.
Christoph Schönborn was born on 22 January 1945 at Skalsko, in what is now the Czech Republic. He was ordained for the Dominicans in 1970, took a doctorate in theology in Paris in 1974, and taught dogmatic theology and the theology of the Christian East at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. From 1987 to 1992 he was secretary of the commission responsible for drafting the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Holy See Press Office, Biographical Notes on the Cardinals: Schönborn), a work that John Paul II describes as carried out by a commission of cardinals and bishops with an editorial committee (John Paul II, Fidei Depositum II). See the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He was ordained bishop in 1991 as auxiliary of Vienna, became archbishop of Vienna on 14 September 1995 and was made a cardinal on 21 February 1998. The press office of the Holy See now lists him as archbishop emeritus (Holy See Press Office, Biographical Notes on the Cardinals: Schönborn).
In the timeline
- 11 October 1992, firm dateThe Catechism of the Catholic Church
On 11 October 1992 John Paul II orders the publication of a catechism for the whole Catholic Church, asked for by the bishops’ synod of 1985 and drafted over six years under Cardinal Ratzinger. It sets out Catholic teaching in four parts.