Bishop Andreas Laun was known to Austrian Catholics for his strong pro-life stance and for fearlessly defending Catholic doctrine on marriage and the family, which made him a friend to many faithful Catholics and an enemy to heterodox forces within the Church.
SALZBURG, Austria (LifeSiteNews) -- Austrian Bishop Andreas Laun, who was known as a defender of Catholic teaching and the unborn, died on New Year’s Eve at age 82.
Laun was auxiliary bishop of Salzburg from 1995 to 2017 and had lived in seclusion in Salzburg due to poor health throughout his time as bishop emeritus. He was a professor of moral theology from 1981 to 1987 at the Salesian College in Benediktbeuern and from 1981 to 2017 at the Philosophical-Theological College in Heiligenkreuz.
LifeSiteNews CEO and Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen, who knew Laun personally, said, “It was a grace for me to know Bishop Laun. He was a man of great joy and unwavering faith.”
Laun was known to Austrian Catholics for his strong pro-life stance, often praying and marching together with pro-lifers. The Austrian prelate fearlessly defended Catholic doctrine on sexual morals, marriage, and the family and thus became a friend to many faithful Catholics and an enemy to the heterodox forces within the Church.
In an interview with LifeSite journalist Maike Hickson in 2016, Laun expressed his support for the four “dubia cardinals” who raised serious questions regarding Pope Francis’ controversial apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
READ: ‘I agree with them!’: Austria’s Bishop Laun defends four Cardinals
Asked whether he saw any way “remarried” divorcees could receive Holy Communion without repenting and changing their lives, he said, “'Unfortunately,’ no! I would like to name for them an easier path. But it is all about truth and not about my feelings. This objective question has nothing to do with mercy. Could St. John the Baptist have ‘mercifully allowed’ Herod to have his brother’s wife?”
Laun came into conflict with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and other Austrian bishops when he strongly condemned the idea of "blessing" homosexual unions suggested by some of the German bishops, saying that “the answer is simple: one may ask for God's blessing for sinners, but not for the sin.”
Schönborn called the bishop's choice of words “not acceptable” because he compared "blessing" a sinful homosexual relationship with "blessing" a mafia organization or a concentration camp to illustrate that the Church could not bless something that is inherently sinful or used for sinful purposes. At the same time, Schönborn appeared to downplay Catholic doctrine on marriage by stating, “The 'marriage-for-all' poses for us as Church some challenges for which we do not have sure formulas.”
READ: Cardinal Schönborn’s support for the homosexual agenda is what made him attack this faithful bishop
Bishop Laun once wrote that a bishop with a mitre on his head “should never express private opinions, but should make it clear that he is subordinate to the Word of God, without leaving anything out and without adding anything in.”
Stephan Baier of the German newspaper Tagespost wrote in his obituary that the prelate “always remained true to this maxim by proclaiming the Catholic faith with prophetic fearlessness, even in the strong headwinds of the Zeitgeist.”
Archbishop Franz Lackner of Salzburg, who is also the head of the Austrian bishops’ conference, said in a statement: “The Lord God has called our emeritus Auxiliary Bishop Andreas Laun to his side. Just two days ago, I was able to visit him at his bedside. Once again, we, as a diocese, are mourning the loss of one of our bishops. Andreas Laun served the Archdiocese of Salzburg as an auxiliary bishop with dedication for over 22 years.”
