Famous 20th Century Priests

Designated Victim 0001 of the 2011 Twin Tower attack, Mychal Judge was a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest. Developing an early interest in monastic life, he served in various parishes before being appointed chaplain to New York City Fire Department. On hearing about the attack, he rushed to the spot and died while praying for the victims inside North Tower.

Exorcist and Catholic priest Gabriele Amorth had been in charge of countless exorcisms in his career of over 6 decades. The founder-president of the International Association of Exorcists, he had also penned a few books on his experiences as an exorcist and had been part of World War II, too.

Daniel Berrigan was an American anti-war activist, Jesuit priest, Christian pacifist, author, poet, and playwright. Berrigan gained national attention for his protest against the Vietnam War, which landed him on the FBI's most-wanted list. He remained a popular anti-war activist throughout his life, co-founding an anti-nuclear weapons movement called the Plowshares movement in 1980.

Robert Runcie was born to middle-class parents, and had been part of the Scots Guards during World War II. He later became the bishop of St. Albans, before taking over as the archbishop of Canterbury. A life peer, he had also penned works such as One Light for One World.

Charles Freer Andrews was a Christian missionary and Anglican priest. He was also an educator and social reformer. A close friend of Indian freedom fighters Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, he supported the Indian struggle for independence. Gandhi fondly called him Deenabandhu, or "Friend of the Poor". Even today, Andrews is widely respected in India. 

Benedict XV became Bishop of Rome at the outbreak of the First World War and his pontificate was mostly occupied with several issues of the war. He declared neutrality of the Holy See and made unsuccessful efforts to mediate peace between both sides. He later succeeded in re-establishing relation between France and the Vatican and promulgated Code of Canon Law.

Marcel Lefebvre was a French Roman Catholic archbishop who founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). He joined the Holy Ghost Fathers for missionary work as a young man and was ordained a diocesan priest in 1929. Years later, he was appointed the Vicar Apostolic of Dakar, Senegal, and the Apostolic Delegate for West Africa.  

N. T. Wright is an English New Testament scholar. Also a Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop, he served as the bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010. He calls for a biblical re-evaluation of theological matters and has authored several books and seminars about theology and Christian life. He is highly regarded in academic and theological circles. 

Born in Uganda, John Sentamu was a Supreme Court lawyer in his country before he fled to the U.K., having faced jail for criticizing President Idi Amin. He later devoted himself to theology and became the Archbishop of York, thus also becoming first black Archbishop of Britain.

Widely regarded as the founder of Intentionalism, or act psychology, German philosopher Franz Brentano was also a Roman Catholic priest. He also taught philosophy at the University of Würzburg and the University of Vienna and penned the iconic works Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint and Inquiry into Sense Psychology.

One of the most significant theologians of the 20th century, Karl Rahner was a disciple of Martin Heidegger at the University of Freiburg. His works such as Spirit in the World and Hearers of the Word showcase the Roman Catholic doctrine and its many interpretations.

Theodore McCarrick is a former cardinal and laicized bishop of the Catholic Church. He became the first cardinal to resign from the College of Cardinals because of sexual abuse claims in July 2018. Known as a champion of progressive Catholicism and social justice causes, McCarrick was found guilty of sexual crimes and abuse of power. He was dismissed from clergy in 2019.

Gustavo Gutiérrez is a Peruvian Catholic theologian, philosopher, and Dominican priest. A respected theologian, Gutiérrez has served as a visiting professor in many prestigious universities in Europe and North America. Gustavo Gutiérrez has also taught at the Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the University of Cambridge, and the University of California, Berkeley among other schools.

Senior pastor of the megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Eddie Long made headlines when a few minor male congregants accused him of sexual abuse. He held a business administration degree and also worked as a sales representative. His long struggle with cancer eventually ended in his death at 63.

Adolfo Nicolás was a Spanish priest of the Roman Catholic Church. From 2008 to 2016, he served as the Superior General of the Society of Jesus. Also an educator, Adolfo Nicolás taught at Sophia University for 20 years and then led educational institutions in Manila and Tokyo between 1978 and 1993.

Ted Haggard is an evangelical pastor who founded New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is also the founder of the Association of Life-Giving Churches. He is against same-sex marriages. In 2006, it was revealed that he had paid a male sex worker for sexual favors and also purchased some illegal drugs from him. 

Michel de Certeau was a French scholar and Jesuit whose work combined philosophy, psychoanalysis, history, and the social sciences. He is credited with co-founding a journal called Christus in 1956, with which he was associated for the rest of his life. Michel de Certeau also taught at many universities in places like Paris, San Diego, and Geneva.

Charles de Foucauld was a cavalry officer in the French Army in the late 19th century. He later became an explorer and geographer, eventually adopting the life of a hermit and a Catholic priest. He was assassinated in 1916 and is listed as a martyr in the liturgy of the Catholic Church. 

Georg Ratzinger was a German musician, conductor, and Catholic priest. He is best remembered for his work as the conductor of the cathedral choir of Regensburg, Regensburger Domspatzen. The older brother of Pope Benedict XVI, Georg Ratzinger achieved notoriety when he turned a blind eye to the issues of young choir members who were sexually abused under his directorship.

Avery Dulles was a Jesuit priest, cardinal of the Catholic Church, and theologian. Renowned for his skills as an author and lecturer, Dulles was associated with Woodstock College and the Catholic University of America from 1960 to 1974 and from 1974 to 1988, respectively. Over the course of his illustrious career, Avery Dulles received several prestigious honors and awards.

Born Francesco Forgione, Pio of Pietrelcina changed his name after joining the Capuchin order at age 15. He later became famous for exhibiting stigmata, marks on his body symbolizing the wounds of Jesus. He is revered as the patron saint of adolescents and civil defense volunteers.

Paul Marcinkus was an American religious leader best remembered for his service as the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. From 1971 to 1989, he also served as the president of the Vatican Bank. One of the most controversial archbishops of the 20th century, Marcinkus' life and career inspired many film characters, including Archbishop Gilday in The Godfather Part III.  

A leading advocate for abolition of death penalty, Roman Catholic sister, Helen Prejea,n started her campaign after she became spiritual guide for a death row convict, penning down her experience in her best-selling book, Dead Man Walking. Also the founder of SURVIVE, a group aimed at helping the families of the victims, she has since been giving talks across USA.     

Philip Berrigan was a peace activist and Catholic priest. He was active in the peace and nuclear disarmament movement and advocated for peaceful and nonviolent protests. He was affiliated with the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. He was married to a former nun and peace activist Elizabeth McAlister. The couple founded Jonah House, a faith-based community. 

Though she appears like a regular blonde beauty, Diane Hegarty made headlines when she co-created the Church of Satan with her partner Anton LaVey. She has also co-written books such as The Satanic Bible and has appeared in many documentaries that featured her with her family and her pet lion.

Egyptian politician Hassan al-Banna not just established the Muslim Brotherhood but also made an effort to transform and modernize the Islamic society. A schoolteacher in Cairo, he later attracted everyone from students to civil servants and laborers to his Brotherhood. The government, sensing him as a threat, got him assassinated.

Abbe Pierre was a French Catholic priest and a member of the Resistance during World War II. Born into a wealthy Catholic family, he entered the Capuchin Order as a teenager and renounced all his inheritances. Later on, he founded the Emmaus movement to help poor and homeless people. He remained active until his death at the age of 94.

Hélder Câmara was a Brazilian Catholic archbishop. He was a self-identified socialist and an advocate of liberation theology. He served as the Archbishop of Olinda and Recife from 1964 to 1985, during the military dictatorship in Brazil. He did social and political work for the upliftment of the poor and was declared a Servant of God in 2015. 

One of the most prominent modern Welsh poets, R. S. Thomas is remembered for his cold style of depicting the reality of his country. Born to a sailor, he grew up in port towns and grew up to become an Anglican priest. Many of his poems contain the character Iago Prytherch.

Born into a family of Anglican rectors, Geoffrey Fisher had served as the bishop of Chester and of London, before becoming the archbishop of Canterbury. He later officiated the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and also crowned her as Queen Elizabeth II. He was later made a life peer, as Baron Fisher of Lambeth.

Irish-American theologian John Dominic Crossan, who has previously been a Roman Catholic priest, was also associated with the Jesus Seminar. It is believed, he had quit Catholic priesthood to marry Margaret, his professor wife, and had then focused on teaching and writing. His written works include Who Killed Jesus?

Stefan Wyszyński was a Polish prelate best remembered for his service as the bishop of Lublin between 1946 and 1948. He also served as the archbishop of Gniezno and archbishop of Warsaw from 1948 to 1981. Stefan Wyszyński is credited with saving Christianity in Poland during the Communist regime, which witnessed the repression of Christianity. 

Nicaraguan priest Ernesto Cardenal was one of the most significant poets of his country. His works despised American imperialism and capitalism and used slogans as symbols. He was also part of the Sandinista Front that removed Anastasio Somoza, following which he became the minister of culture in the new cabinet.

Former archbishop of Paris, Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger was the inspiration behind the film The Jewish Cardinal. Born a Jewish, he was converted to Catholicism at 13 but lost his mother at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Nazi Holocaust. He won the Nostra Aetate Award for improving Catholic-Jewish ties.