Roman Catholic Church
Gintaras Grušas is the Archbishop of Vilnius (Lithuania) and the Apostolic Administrator of the Lithuanian Military Ordinariate, as well as the President of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference and the president of The Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE).
Gintaras Grušas was born on September 23, 1961 in Washington D.C. in the United States. He grew up in a Lithuanian family and became involved in cultural and Catholic activities.
He was active at the Lithuanian parish of St. Casimir in Los Angeles, the Lithuanian Catholic Youth organization Ateitis, the president of the Lithuanian World Youth Association (1983-1988), as well as a member of the Lithuanian World Community board (1983-1988).
Prior to entering the seminary, he finished studies in Mathematics and Computer Science at UCLA. He then worked at IBM. He began his studies in Theology at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. He then continued his studies for two years in Rome at Beda College. In 1992, he was ordained a deacon and assigned as General Secretary of the committee for organizing the apostolic journey of Pope John Paul II to Lithuania. Upon returning to Rome, he continued his studies while living at the Pontifical St. Casimir’s Lithuanian College, and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Theology at the Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University.
On June 25th, 1994 he was ordained a priest at the Archcathedral in Vilnius. In the same year, he was elected as General Secretary for the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference. In 1997, he returned to the Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome, where he received a doctorate in Canon law. From 2001–2003, he was the Rector of the Vilnius St. Joseph’s Seminary, where he also taught Canon Law. 2002-2013 he was the General Secretary of Lithuania’s Bishop’s Conference.
In 2010 Holy Father Benedict XVI appointed Monsignor Gintaras Grušas as the Military Ordinary in Lithuania and ordained a bishop on September 4, 2010.
On April 5th, 2013 Pope Francis appointed him the Metropolitan Archbishop of Vilnius.
He has been the President of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference since 2014. At the Vatican he has been a member of the Dicastery for Clergy since 2014 and a member of the Dicastery for Communication since 2016.
In 2021, he was elected president of The Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE).
