DDDr. Dr. h.c. Andreas Rohracher

Andreas Rohracher was born the son of the conservative Catholic member of the Reichsrat Franz Rohracher, a second-hand bookseller, and graduated from grammar school (Cassianeum) in Brixen in 1911. Due to the lack of priests in Carinthia, he then entered the Gurk seminary and studied at the philosophical-theological house school in Klagenfurt. In 1915, he was ordained a priest in Tanzenberg.

After this, Andreas Rohracher was chaplain in Spittal/Drau for three years. In 1918, he was called to Klagenfurt by the Bishop of Gurk, Adam Hefter, as court chaplain and ordinariate secretary. As early as 1919, he went to study in Innsbruck (Dr. theol. 1922), then to Vienna (Dr. iur. utr. 1926) and finally to Rome (Dr. iur. can. 1927).

At Adam Hefter's request, he was appointed Titular Bishop Isba and Auxiliary Bishop of Gurk in 1933. His appointment as vicar general followed in 1938.

After Adam Hefter's resignation, Andreas Rohracher was elected chapter vicar on July 15, 1939. During the Third Reich, he protested against the killing of the mentally ill and the attacks on the Slovenes in Carinthia. On February 23, 1943, he was elected Prince Archbishop by the Salzburg Cathedral Chapter. The translation (papal confirmation) took place on May 1, 1943, but he also remained administrator of this diocese until the new bishop of Gurk, Josef Köstner, took office.

Through his brother Meinrad, Andreas Rohracher indirectly came into contact with the "Antifascist Freedom Movement" (AFÖ), in which numerous CVers played a key role. He also had contacts with the "Kreisau Circle", but remained unmolested by the Gestapo. In Salzburg, the archiepiscopal palace is confiscated, so he finds accommodation in the Archabbey of St. Peter. In the final days of the war, he lobbied Gauleiter Adolf Scheel for the surrender of the city of Salzburg without a fight.

After the war, Andreas Rohracher advocated reconciliation and warned the faithful against acts of revenge against National Socialists, an attitude that also provoked criticism. In 1951, he resigned the title of "Prince Archbishop" on the instructions of the Holy See, and from 1955 to 1959, following the death of Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, he was also Chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.

In 1961, under his aegis, the "International Research Centre for the Foundations of Science" was founded by the Catholic University Association, which also organizes the Salzburg University Weeks. In 1965, Andreas Rohracher made the much-noticed proposal to create a separate patriarchate for the churches of the Reformation in order to revive ecumenical discussions.