Jozef Tomko (11 March 1924 – 8 August 2022) was a Slovak prelate of the Catholic Church who held positions in the Roman Curia from 1962 until he retired in 2007. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 1985 to 2001 and president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses from 2001 to 2007. He was made a cardinal in 1985. Biography Early life and ordination Jozef Tomko was born 11 March 1924 in Udavské, near Humenné, in Czechoslovakia (now in the Slovak Republic). In 1943 he entered the Theological Faculty of Bratislava. He was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum and Pontifical Gregorian University, where he obtained his doctorates in theology, canon law, and social sciences. Tomko was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Luigi Traglia on 12 March 1949 in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Pastoral and academic work He continued his studies at the Lateran and Gregorian University while doing pastoral work in Rome and Porto e Santa Rufina until 1979. From 1950 to 1965, he served as vice-rector and later rector of the Pontifical Nepomucenum College. He taught at the International University Pro Deo from 1955 to 1956 as well. During this period, Tomko was actively involved in establishment of the Slovak Institute of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Rome. He visited the Slovak communities in the United States, Canada, and various European countries several times. Tomko for decades regularly addressed Slovak Catholics on Vatican Radio and also on Catholic TV Lux. Roman Curia Tomko was raised to the rank of Privy Chamberlain supernumerary on 5 December 1959, and entered the service of the Roman Curia in 1962, as an adjunct in the Book Censorship Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). In reference to the more lenient measures taken against dissident theologians, he once remarked, "The electric chair and gas chamber are no more". During the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) he worked as a consultant for the CDF and later became a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Family. Tomko became an Honorary Prelate of His Holiness on 17 June 1970. He was named Undersecretary of the Congregation for Bishops in 1974. He was a visiting professor at the Gregorian University from 1970 to 1977. Bishop On 12 July 1979, Tomko was appointed Secretary General of the World Synod