President of the Commission on the External Action of the EU

Bishop Jan Vokál

Bishop of Hradec Králové

Mgr. Jan Vokál was born on September 1958 in Hlinsko, Bohemia. After his studies at Middle School of Industry and Electronic Technology in Pardubice, he graduated in cybertechnics from Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1983.

In September 1983, he left for Rome to enter the Pontifical College Nepomucenum. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Lateran University. He was ordained priest by Pope John Paul II on May 28, 1989 in the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican.

Between 1989 and 1990, he served as a parish vicar of Epiphany Church (Diocese of Peoria, USA). On September 1991 he entered the service of Vatican Secretariat of State (Section for General Affairs). In 2009, he underwent a rigorous examination (examen rigorosum) on constitutional law at the Charles University in Prague and earned the title JUDr. (Juris Utrisque Doctor).

In 1997 Pope John Paul II conferred him the title of Chaplain of His Holiness. Ten years after the title of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness Benedict XVI followed.

On June 2005, the then Bishop of Hradec Králové and current Archbishop of Prague, Dominik Duka OP, had ranked Msgr. Jan Vokál among honorary capitulars of the Cathedral Capitulary of the Holy Spirit in Hradec Králové. On March 3, 2011, the Holy Father Benedict XVI named him the Bishop of Hradec Králové.

Mgr. Vokál is Bishop Delegate to COMECE since 2013. In the period 2018-2023, he served as Vice-President of COMECE.