# Julijans Vaivods

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Latvian cleric

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Julijans Vaivods Cardinal Apostolic Administrator of Riga Latvian postage stamp depicting Julijans Vaivods Church Roman Catholic Archdiocese Riga Installed 10 Nov 1964 Term ended 24 May 1990 Predecessor Pēteris Strods Successor Jānis Cakuls Other posts Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quattro Coronati Titular Bishop of Macriana Maior Orders Ordination 7 April 1918 Consecration 18 November 1964 Created cardinal 2 February 1983 by John Paul II Rank Cardinal Personal details Born (1895-08-18)18 August 1895 Vārkava, Latgale, Vitebsk Governorate (Present day Latvia) Died 24 May 1990(1990-05-24) (aged 94) Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union (Present day Latvia) Buried Basilica of the Assumption in Aglona

Styles of Julijans Vaivods Reference style His Eminence Spoken style Your Eminence Religious style Cardinal Informal style Cardinal See Riga

**Julijans Vaivods** (18 August 1895 – 24 May 1990) was a [Latvian Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church_in_Latvia) prelate who served as [Apostolic Administrator](/source/Apostolic_administration) of [Riga](/source/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Riga) and of [Liepāja](/source/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Liep%C4%81ja) from 1964 until his death in 1990. He was made a cardinal in 1983, the first from [Latvia](/source/Latvia). He was the oldest living cardinal when he died at age 94. He was also a [KGB](/source/KGB) agent throughout the [Soviet period in Latvia](/source/Latvian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic).

## Biography

Julijans Vaivods studied at the [Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy](/source/Saint_Petersburg_Roman_Catholic_Theological_Academy), Russia. He was ordained [priest](/source/Priesthood_(Catholic_Church)) for the [Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mohilev](/source/Metropolitan_Archdiocese_of_Mohilev) by Bishop [Jan Cieplak](/source/Jan_Cieplak) on 7 April 1918 in St. Petersburg. He was initially sent back to Latgale to serve as a parish priest and school chaplain. He came under the jurisdiction of the newly restored Diocese of Riga on 22 September 1918. He was sent to serve as a parish priest in [Courland](/source/Courland) (Kurzeme) in 1925. He later came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Liepāja when it was created in 1937. While serving as the [vicar general](/source/Vicar_general) of that diocese, he was elevated to [monsignor](/source/Monsignor) on 4 July 1949.

Msgr. Vaivods was imprisoned by the [Soviet](/source/Soviet_Union) authorities from 1958 to 1960. In 1962 he became vicar general of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Riga. In 1964 he received a papal invitation to travel to Rome to attend the third session of the [Second Vatican Council](/source/Second_Vatican_Council).

On 18 November 1964 he was consecrated [titular bishop](/source/Titular_bishop) of Macriana Maior by [Paolo Cardinal Marella](/source/Paolo_Marella) in Rome. Cardinal Marella was assisted by Latvian bishops-in-exile [Jāzeps Rancāns](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=J%C4%81zeps_Ranc%C4%81ns&action=edit&redlink=1) and [Boļeslavs Sloskāns](/source/Bo%C4%BCeslavs_Slosk%C4%81ns). Bishop Vaivods returned to Rome in 1965 to participate in the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council. He died in 1990 and was buried at the [Basilica of the Assumption](/source/Basilica_of_the_Assumption%2C_Aglona) in [Aglona](/source/Aglona).

In 2018, it was revealed that on 28 July 1948, the [Special Department of the Soviet State Security Ministry](/source/Ministry_of_State_Security_(Soviet_Union)) recruited Vaivods as an agent under the codename 'Omega'. He remained a collaborator with the [KGB](/source/KGB) through the Soviet period.[1][2][3]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Corley, Felix. ["The Latvian KGB's clergy agents"](https://www.academia.edu/38042677). {{[cite journal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_journal)}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#missing_periodical))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Latvian cardinal, ex-PM, judge top list of KGB collaborators"](https://www.france24.com/en/20181221-latvian-cardinal-ex-pm-judge-top-list-kgb-collaborators). *France 24*. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Higgins, Andrew (18 January 2019). ["4,141 Latvians Were Just Outed as K.G.B. Informants"](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/world/europe/latvia-kgb-informants.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 21 March 2025.

## External links

- [Julijans *Cardinal* Vaivods](http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bvaivods.html)

- [Cardinals Created by John Paul II (1983)](http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/data/cardJP2-2.htm#316)

- [The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church](https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-v.htm#vaivods#vaivods)

Records Preceded by Pietro Parente Oldest living Member of the Sacred College 29 December 1986 – 24 May 1990 Succeeded by Henri de Lubac

v t e Cardinals created by John Paul II 1979 Casaroli Caprio Cé Righi-Lambertini Căn Civardi Corripio y Ahumada Asajiro Satowaki Etchegaray Ballestrero Ó Fiaich Carter Macharski Rubin Kung Pin-mei 1983 Khoraish Yago Sabattani Kuharić Casoria Lebrún Moratinos Bernardin Kitbunchu do Nascimento López Trujillo Danneels Williams Martini Lustiger Glemp Vaivods Meisner de Lubac 1985 Dadaglio Lourdusamy Arinze Fresno Innocenti Obando y Bravo Mayer Suquía Goicoechea Hamer Vidal Gulbinowicz Tzadua Tomko Lubachivsky Deskur Poupard Vachon Decourtray Castillo Lara Wetter Piovanelli Simonis Gagnon Stickler Law O'Connor Biffi Pavan 1988 Martínez Somalo Silvestrini Felici Grégoire Padiyara Freire Falcão Giordano dos Santos Canestri Javierre Ortas Pimenta Revollo Bravo Clancy Moreira Neves Hickey Szoka Paskai Tumi Groër Martin Hensbach Sladkevičius Margéot Wu 1991 Sodano Todea Laghi Cassidy Coffy Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi López Rodríguez Sanchez Noè Quarracino Angelini Mahony Posadas Ocampo Bevilacqua Saldarini Daly Ruini Korec Schwery Sterzinsky del Mestri Dezza 1994 Sfeir Vlk Poggi Shirayanagi Fagiolo Furno Oviedo Cavada Winning Suárez Rivera Ortega y Calamino Darmaatmadja Schotte Eyt Agustoni Wamala Keeler Vargas Alzamora Turcotte Carles Gordó Maida Puljić Razafindratandra Tụng Sandoval Íñiguez Echeverría Ruiz Świątek Tonini Koliqi Congar Grillmeier 1998 Medina Estévez Bovone Castrillón Hoyos Antonelli Stafford De Giorgi Fernandes de Araújo Rouco Varela Ambrozic Balland Tettamanzi Pengo Schönborn Rivera Carrera George Shan Kuo-hsi Kozłowiecki Cheli Colasuonno Monduzzi Jaworski Pujats 2001 Re Thuận Cacciavillan Sebastiani Grocholewski Saraiva Martins Sepe Mejía Daoud Pompedda Kasper Degenhardt González Zumárraga Dias Majella Agnelo Rubiano Sáenz McCarrick Connell Bačkis Errázuriz Ossa Terrazas Sandoval Napier Rodríguez Maradiaga Agré Billé Velasco Cipriani Thorne Álvarez Martínez Hummes Vithayathil Bergoglio Policarpo Poletto Murphy-O'Connor Egan Huzar Lehmann Ghattas Honoré Tucci Scheffczyk Dulles 2003 Tauran Martino Marchisano Herranz Casado Lozano Barragán Hamao Nicora Scola Okogie Panafieu Zubeir Wako Amigo Vallejo Rigali O'Brien Scheid Antonelli Bertone Turkson Toppo Pell Bozanić Mẫn Quezada Toruño Barbarin Erdő Ouellet Cottier Joos Špidlík Nagy Catholic Church portal

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Latvia

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Julijans Vaivods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julijans_Vaivods) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julijans_Vaivods?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.