Valentin Pozaić

Msgr. Dr. Valentin Pozaić, a founder and the first ecclesiastical assistant of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society and a former ecclesiastical assistant of the FEAMC (1996–2016), has died. (September 15, 1945–May 15, 2023) In 1991, together with a group of physicians, pharmacists and university professors, he founded the Croatian Catholic Medical Society, serving as its first ecclesiastical assistant until his retirement in 2018. In addition, from 1996 to 2016, he was the ecclesiastical assistant of the European Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FEAMC), in which he was esteemed as “prepared, cordial, mild, clear, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church and the Pope,” according to Prof. Vincenzo Defilippis, President of FEAMC. Bishop Pozaić’s last encounter with the members of the international organizations of FEAMC and FIAMC (the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations) took place during the Twenty-Fifth Congress of the FIAMC, which was held in Zagreb from May 30 to June 2, 2018. Bishop Pozaić, i.e., Pater Pozaić (as we called him until his episcopal ordination), was not only our ecclesiastical assistant but also the key figure in the founding of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society, its organization and the determination of its fundamental directions regarding development and activities. Moreover, in addition to his formal obligations in the Society, he was like a caring father to many of our members, following not only our formation as Catholic physicians and pharmacists but also our professional careers and family lives. He married many of our members, baptized our children, administered the Sacrament of Confirmation, visited us in our homes, ministered to our loved ones, and provided us with spiritual advice as well as paternal affection. His episcopal motto, Elige vitam! — Choose life!, clearly expressed his life’s mission, which he incorporated into the Statutes of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society: the protection of human life from conception to natural death. In a symbolic manner, he also expressed this message on the occasion of his episcopal ordination in 2005 on the Feast of St. Joseph, the patron saint of fathers and the Croatian homeland, when one of the Mass readings was read by a member of our Society, Dr. Renata Vrsalović, at the time nine months pregnant with her son Jakov. Our Bishop (Pater) Pozaić left us a great legacy: the love of God, the love of our fellow man and the love of our homeland, but also the quest for the sincere and compassionate care of our patients, fraternal love for our colleagues and faith in the progress of the Croatian Catholic Medical Society and the international associations of Catholic physicians. Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, And let perpetual light shine upon him! Rest in peace!