Bernard Bober was born on 3 November 1950 in the village of
Zbudské Dlhé in
Czechoslovakia. He was ordained priest on 8 June 1974 in the
St Martin's Cathedral in
Bratislava. Following his ordination, he served as a chaplain in the towns of
Humenné,
Snina and
Zborov. From 1978 to 1990 he was the parish priest in the village of
Kecerovce. In 1991 he was named the
vicar general of the Diocese of Košice. On 29 December 1992 Bober was named Auxiliary Bishop of Košice and Titular Bishop of
Vissalsa by the
Pope John Paul II. He was consecrated on 30 January 1993 at the
Cathedral of St. Elizabeth in
Košice by the Cardinal
Jozef Tomko and co-consecrated by the Bishop of Košice
Alojz Tkáč and Archbishop of Trnava
Ján Sokol. On 4 June 2010, he succeeded Tkáč as the head of the Archdiocese of Košice. On 10 October 2022, Bober replaced Archbishop of Bratislava
Stanislav Zvolenský as the head of the Conference of Slovak Bishops. In addition to Church offices, Bober also serves as the Grand Chancellor of the Catholic University in Ružomberok. In 2025, Bober claimed that there is a lack of objective evaluation of the role of the fascist
World War II era leader
Jozef Tiso. His claim was widely criticized by Slovak historians. In November 2025 at the request of
Pope Leo XIV, the Portuguese priest and DJ
Padre Guilherme played a live set outside the
Cathedral of St. Elizabeth to mark Bober's 75th birthday. == References ==