On January 6th, Pope Benedict announced the creation of 22 new cardinals; among them is Mgr Dominik Jaroslav Duka, O.P., Archbishop of Prague, Czech Republic.
Dominik Duka was born on 26 April 1943 in Hradec Kralove. He joined the Dominican Order, making his temporary profession on January 6, 1969, and was ordained priest on the 22nd of June the next year.
For five years he worked in several parishes in Prague, and made his solemn profession in the Order on January 7, 1972.
In 1975 he was deprived of authorization to exercise his priestly ministry, and was forced to work as a designer in a car factory in Plzen until the fall of Communism in 1989. Meanwhile, he worked in secret as master of novices and professor of theology. He was imprisoned in Plzen between 1981 and 1982.
From 1986-98 he was Provincial of the Dominican Province of in Bohemia. He was elected president of the Federal Conference of Major Superiors and, from 1992 to 1996 was vice-president of the Union of European Conferences of Major Superiors.
From 1990 to 1999 he was a professor in the faculty of theology of Palacky University in Olomouc. On June 6, 1998, Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Hradec Kralove. He was ordained bishop on 26 September 1998. On 13 February 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as archbishop of Prague.
He received his cardinals insignia on the 18th of February at a ceremony held at St Peters Basilica, Rome.
That day and the following day were very hectic days for the newly created Cardinal Dominic Duka, OP. On Sunday 19th, after the celebrations at the Vatican he visited the Master of the Order, Bro Bruno Cador, OP, and the brothers at Santa Sabina. This time, he was in his Dominican Habit which made the brothers very happy to receive their Cardinal Brother.
Besides the private meeting with the Master, Cardinal Duka, OP spent three important moments with the community. The first one was in the community recreation room where he dialogued with the friars and answered their questions on various issues concerning his work as an archbishop and his archdiocese. The second was in the Basilica where the community gathered to sing Vespers, and the Cardinal sat in the pews with the friars, a brother among brothers. The third moment was a fraternal supper in the refectory where pizza was served.
The Master and the brothers at Santa Sabina thank the Cardinal for his brotherly visit and wish him the best in his pastoral work.