Franc Rodé was born on 23 September 1934 — Wikipedia gives Rodica, near Ljubljana; the Holy See biography gives Jarše in Ljubljana — into a family that fled the communists for Argentina when he was a child. He entered the Vincentians in Buenos Aires (1952), was ordained in Paris on 29 June 1960, and took a doctorate in theology at the Catholic Institute of Paris (1968). Returning to Yugoslavia in 1965, he taught in Ljubljana, then served the Secretariat for Non-Believers from 1978 — its secretary from 1987 — organizing dialogue sessions with European Marxists.
Appointed Archbishop of Ljubljana on 5 March 1997 (consecrated 6 April), he led Slovenia's bishops before Benedict XVI made him Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on 11 February 2004, overseeing every religious order in the world until January 2011. Benedict XVI created him a cardinal on 24 March 2006, with the deaconry of San Francesco Saverio alla Garbatella; he was the first Slovenian in history to vote in a conclave (2013). His motto is the Old Slovene Stati inu obstati — “to exist and persevere,” from Trubar's Catechism (the phrase is on Slovenia's 1-euro coin).
Consequential Quotes
Christ himself wanted this stable form of life in the Church… it cannot be simply and reductively considered an accessory reality, but instead truly and unquestionably one of the fundamental and constituent structures of the Church's very essence and nature.
After all they've done to me they deserve this.
Major Works & Initiatives
Prefect for religious life
Oversaw every religious order worldwide.
Archbishop of Ljubljana
Led Slovenia's bishops after communism.
Dialogue with non-believers
Sessions with European Marxists from the Secretariat.
Controversies
The 2012 allegation and the negative DNA test
In August 2012 the Slovenian paper Delo alleged Rodé had fathered a child. He denied it, offered a DNA test, and announced privacy lawsuits. In October 2012 he and the alleged son took a paternity test at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Munich, which came back negative; both parties accepted the result.