Franz Lackner

Franz Lackner (born 14 July 1956) is an Austrian prelate who currently serves as the Archbishop of Salzburg.

Franz Lackner was born in Feldbach in the district of Styria. He served as a UN soldier and was stationed in Cyprus.

On September 16, 1984, he became a novice of the Franciscan Order. He was professed as a member of the order on 16 September 1985 while he took his solemn profession on September 2, 1989. On June 23, 1991 Lackner was ordained to the priesthood. After gaining his Masters in Theology Lackner graduated from the Pontifical University Antonianum of the Franciscan order in Rome in philosophy with a dissertation on the subject of "Unity and Multiplicity in Duns Scotus". Subsequently, he was professor of Metaphysics at the Antonianum.

On April 7, 1999 he was appointed Provincial of the Franciscan Province in Vienna. In the same year he also became professor of philosophy at the Pontifical Philosophical-Theological College Benedict XVI in Heiligenkreuz, Austria.

On 23 October 2002 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Graz-Seckau and Titular Bishop of Balecium. On December 8, 2002 he was consecrated bishop by the Bishop of Graz-Seckau Egon Kapellari in Graz Cathedral. He choose as his motto Illum oportet crescere. On September 8, 2003 he was appointed Episcopal Vicar for Permanent Deacons, youths and Vocations. In 2010 he became an honorary member of the K.Ö.St.V. Babenberg Graz and in 2012 an Honorary Member of the K.Ö.St.V. Nibelungia-Knittel.

On November 18, 2013 Lackner was appointed Archbishop of Salzburg. He was installed on January 12, 2014 in Salzburg Cathedral. Lackner is the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Salzburg. He also has the title of Primas Germaniae ("First Bishop of Germany"). The Archbishop also has the title of Legatus Natus ("born legate") to the Pope, which, although not a cardinal, gives the Archbishop the privilege of wearing red vesture (which is much deeper than a cardinal's scarlet), even in Rome.