Archbishop Lionginas Virbalas, S.J. (born 6 July 1961) is a Lithuanian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Archbishop of the Kaunas from 11 June 2015 until 1 March 2019. He was Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Panevėžys from 6 June 2013 until 11 June 2015.
Life
Virbalas was born on 6 July 1961 in Biržai, Lithuanian SSR, present day Lithuania), in the Diocese of Panevėžys. After graduating from the local school, he studied at the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute (1979–1981). He interrupted his studies to fulfill his compulsory service requirement in the Soviet Army from 1981 to 1983.[1] In 1983 he entered the Inter-Diocesan Theological Seminary in Kaunas, which was soon closed by the Soviet authorities. He then studied theology clandestinely and in 1986 entered the Theological Seminary[2] and then the Jesuits in 1989.[1] He was ordained a priest on 30 May 1991, after completed his philosophical and theological studies. He made his solemn profession as a Jesuit on 27 September 2003.
On 1 March 2019 Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Kaunas, which Virbalas had submitted because of health problems. He said he was returning to the exercise of his priestly mission.[5]
