Karol Kmeťko


Karol Kmeťko was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nitra in Slovakia and personal archbishop.

Early life and ordination

Born in Veľké Držkovce, in the Trencsén County of the Kingdom of Hungary, his interest in Catholicism led him to the priesthood. At the age of 23, Kmetko was ordained a priest in Nitra on July 2, 1899. Twenty-one years later, on February 13, 1921 he was appointed Bishop of Nitra.

Bishop

Before the 1942 deportations of Jews from Slovakia, Kmeťko confronted the president of the Slovak State, Jozef Tiso, with reliable reports of the murder of Jews in the Ukraine. Kmeťko asked: "How can the government allow , when it is said that they carry the off to their death?" According to Kmeťko, Tiso replied "with something that I could not fully accept: ‘It’s enough for me that I have assurances from the Germans that they treat humanely, that they are used there as workers. For if Slovaks can go to Germany to work, why can’t the do the same?’"
On May 11, 1944, Kmeťko was appointed Archbishop of Nitra in Slovakia. According to the Catholic Hierarchy, Kmetko was a priest for 49.5 years and a bishop for 27.9 years. He died in December 1948 at the age of seventy-three.