Cardinal Michael Czerny is originally European, with training as a North American. He was born on July 18, 1946, in Brno, in what was then Czechoslovakia. Two years later, his family moved to Montreal, Canada. There he also attended Loyola High School and in 1963, after completing his studies, he entered the Canadian Anglo province of the Society of Jesus. He was ordained a priest on June 9, 1973. He earned a doctorate in social sciences on the topic of the relationship between social thought and theology, as part of an interdisciplinary study program at the University of Chicago.
A year later, he founded the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Social Justice in Toronto, where he served until 1989, when he offered his position as a successor after the murder of six fellow Jesuits on the night of November 16 at the Central American University in San Salvador. Before that, he spent several months in Czechoslovakia and France in the Archa community founded by Jean Vanier.
After moving to Central America, he served as the director of the Institute for Human Rights UCA from 1990 to 1991 and in 1991 held the position of vice-rector of the university. He also made significant contributions at the UN by participating as a mediator in negotiations that led to the end of the prolonged civil war (1980–1992) in El Salvador.
For ten years (until 2002), he served as secretary within the Secretariat for Social Justice at the General Curia of the Jesuits in Rome. In 1995, he participated in the 34th General Congregation of the Society founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola and was a member of the UN commission investigating the situation in Haiti during the crisis that followed the military coup against the elected president.
Father Czerny left Central America for Africa (2002–2010), where he established and led the African Jesuit Aid Network supporting African Jesuits involved in searching for assistance in combating the pandemic spread of the HIV virus. During this time, he taught at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi and collaborated with the Kenyan Bishops' Conference.
In 2009, due to his familiarity with the African world, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him an expert at the special episcopal synod for this continent, and in 2010 he was definitively called to Rome as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. When the papal councils were merged in 2016, "Justice and Peace" was included in the Office for Integral Human Development. Pope Francis, who reserved direct oversight of the section specifically dealing with refugees and migrants, appointed Father Czerny as his collaborator in the role of under-secretary.
In October 2018, Father Czerny participated in the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme of "Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment" and was appointed special secretary of the synodal assembly for the Amazon, which took place in the Vatican from October 6 to 27, 2019. He sees his role as a service to indigenous peoples and the defense of the increasingly ravaged environment in this region. He also contributed to a book published by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America titled "The Invasion of Popular Movements: 'Rerum Novarum' of Our Time".
On the eve of the cardinal consistory, on Friday, October 4, 2019, he received episcopal ordination in St. Peter's Basilica through the laying on of hands of Pope Francis along with a trio of apostolic nuncios. The titular bishopric assigned to him was Benevento, with a special personal archiepiscopal title. His cardinal title became the diaconate of St. Archangel Michael in the Roman district of Pietralata. In addition to the Jesuit emblem with a blazing sun and the letters IHS, he chose a barque on the waves with four black silhouettes for his cardinal coat of arms.
