Jānis Pujats

Who is Jānis Pujats?

Jānis Pujats is the archbishop emeritus of Riga, Latvia.

Pujats was born in Nautrēni parish in Latgale. He attended the Theological Seminary in Riga until it was closed by the Soviet Union in 1951. Two months later, he was ordained in a secret ceremony by Archbishop Antonijs Springovičs. During the episcopate of Pope Paul VI, he implemented the Pope's liturgical reform and published the first missal in Latvian. Jānis Pujats was made Archbishop of Riga in 1991. On 21 February 1998 he was made a Cardinal in pectore by Pope John Paul II; his cardinalate was not publicly revealed until the consistory of 21 February 2001. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. He speaks Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, German and Latin in addition to his native Latvian. He is noted for being the only member of the Synod of Bishops to speak exclusively Latin when at the microphone at both the 2001 and 2005 meetings.

His resignation was accepted for reasons of age on 19 June 2010, when Pope Benedict appointed Zbigņevs Stankevičs as the new archbishop of Riga.