Pavol Mária Hnilica | |
|---|---|
| Titular Bishop of Rusadir | |
 | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Rusadir |
| Installed | 13 May 1964 |
| Term ended | 8 October 2006 |
| Predecessor | Joseph Howard Hodges |
| Successor | Pascal Wintzer |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 29 September 1950 by Robert Pobožný, Bishop of Roznava |
| Consecration | 2 January 1951 by Robert Pobožný |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 March 1921 |
| Died | 8 October 2006 (aged 85) Nové Hrady, Czech Republic |
| Nationality | Slovak |
| Denomination | Catholic |
Pavol Mária Hnilica, S.J. (30 March 1921 – 8 October 2006) was a Slovak prelate of the Catholic Church who served as a titular bishop of Rusadir from 1964 until his death in 2006.
Born in Uňatín in present-day Slovakia, Hnilica became a Jesuit priest in 1950, and in 1951 was secretly ordained a bishop during the communist rule in Czechoslovakia. In 1951 he fled the country and settled in Rome, where in 1964 he was appointed the titular bishop of Rusadir. From Rome, he led the Pia Unione Pro Fratribus organisation, later known as Family of Mary. The organisation offered religious support to Catholics in Eastern Europe under Soviet control.
Hnilica was part of a network of Marian apparitions around the world. His organization was especially active around the promotion of the cult of the Lady of All Nations in the Netherlands. Presently Bishop Hendriks explains that the title 'Lady of All Nations' is "in itself theologically admissible" which includes praying with the Madonna but it is not to be understood as a recognition of the supernatural nature of the phenomena.
After the Bosnian War disrupted his activity in Medjugorje, Hnilica turned to the United States, where he tried to create a similar Marian cult in Denver, an unsuccessful endeavour shut down by the local bishop. A supporter of the Medjugorje apparitions, Hnilica also became active supporting marian apparitions. He claimed to have been the Pope's personal delegate and that the Pope privately supports the apparitions. The local diocese, as well as the Vatican, declared the claims to be false.
In 1992, Hnilica tried to retrieve stolen documents from Roberto Calvi regarding the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano of which the Vatican Bank was a partial owner. Flavio Carboni, an associate of Calvi, promised to clear the Vatican Bank of any wrongdoing. Initially Carboni and Hnilica were found guilty but the verdict was annulled for procedural reasons. In the second trial Hnilica was acquitted because the court found that he acted under duress.