At the age of 86

Salzburg’s former archbishop Kothgasser dies

Alois Kothgasser died at the age of 86.

(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

The former Archbishop of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser, died on Thursday evening at the age of 86, the archdiocese announced. Kothgasser had recently been seriously ill after suffering a brain haemorrhage last November.

According to the archdiocese, Kothgasser died in the presence of his closest family members, the rector of the seminary Tobias Giglmayr, the seminarians and Archbishop Franz Lackner. "Archbishop emeritus Alois passed away as we began Compline, the church's night prayer, and prayed the confession of guilt at his side. His death saddens me, but I also look back on his work with great gratitude," explained Archbishop Lackner in the archdiocese's statement.

Alois Kothgasser belonged to the order of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He was Archbishop of Salzburg between 2003 and 2013 and previously Bishop of Innsbruck from 1997 to 2002. After his retirement, he initially lived for several years in the Spiritual Center of the Don Bosco Sisters in Baumkirchen (Tyrol). Since his 85th birthday in 2022, Archbishop Kothgasser has lived in the seminary of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

Ordained priest 60 years ago
Born in 1937 in Lichtenegg in south-eastern Styria to a farming family, Kothgasser studied with the Salesians in Turin and Rome after joining the order. He was ordained a priest in 1964. From 1982 to 1997, he was Professor of Dogmatics and twice Rector at the Benediktbeuern School of Philosophy and Theology in Bavaria. Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) appointed him Bishop of Innsbruck in 1997. Almost ten years later, Kothgasser moved to Salzburg as Archbishop.