by Bohumil Petrík
Bratislava – “Wisdom never goes out of fashion. The purpose of the Anton Neuwirth College is to contribute to the good of society by following the wisdom of Christian values. What was wise a thousand years ago is still wise today, as is the case with forgiveness, patience and love.”
Bishop of the Diocese of Žilina, Tomáš Gális said this in his homily at a Mass commemorating Anton Neuwirth, the first post-war ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the Holy See, on the occasion of the 105th anniversary of his birth.
The Mass, held in the church in Bojnice, where Neuwirth is buried, was part of the pilgrimage organized for the 18th time by the College that bears the ambassador’s name. Staff members, friends and some students of the institute took part in the pilgrimage and Mass.
The Catholic-inspired College, founded in 2009 in the village of Ivanka pri Dunaji, near Bratislava, offers one- and two-year programs, primarily for university students. Catholic ethics, philosophy and art are taught there, drawing on the works of major authors, while lectures on current affairs are given by Slovak and international academics and scholars.
In 2020, the Anton Neuwirth College opened the Citadela primary school. In September, a secondary school bearing Anton Neuwirth’s name will also open in Bratislava, following the same educational approach.
The College has recently embarked on a more ambitious project: work is beginning on the construction of a “campus” intended to house the country’s first ‘grassroots’ university, building on the academic teaching already provided to resident university students. The primary and secondary schools are also expected to be relocated to the campus.
At present, most classes are held at the manor house in Ivanka, which belongs to the Jesuits. The College’s programs are financed mainly through individual donations and contributions from students.
In autumn 2025, the cornerstone of the future campus was blessed by Pope Leo XIV during a general audience at the Vatican.
“This pilgrimage is also an invitation to the entire ecclesial community, so that everyone may be encouraged to follow Neuwirth’s example, who urged people to ‘heal evil with good’,” College founder and rector Martin Luterán said after the Mass on 20 August.
Together with the ambassador, the pilgrims also commemorated his daughter, Anna Záborská, who died on 20 August 2025. Like her father, she was a doctor and spent many years as a member of the Slovak Parliament in Bratislava and the European Parliament in Brussels.
A third person commemorated during the pilgrimage was Michal Považan, a historian and teacher at the College who died two years ago.
Anton Neuwirth was a doctor who, under the Czechoslovak regime, was accused of being a “Vatican agent”. Following the collapse of the regime, he entered politics and diplomacy, becoming the first ambassador of the newly established Slovak Republic to the Holy See. He wrote a book entitled Healing Evil with Love. Some people associated with the College would like to establish whether the conditions exist for opening a cause for his canonization.
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