Between 1982 and 1984, Hočevar was the deputy of the Salesian Provincial of Slovenia. Later, he served four years as the principal of the catholic boarding school in Klagenfurt, Austria. In 1988, he was appointed Salesian Provincial of Slovenia, the position he held until 2000. He has taken part in four Salesian General Chapters in Rome. He served two terms as the president of the Conference of senior religious leaders of Slovenia, and then for two years as the Secretary General of the same conference.[3]
In 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Hočevar launched an initiative titled "Peace to you, the Balkans" and also established a fund for families with many children called "Anin sklad" (Ana's Harmony). In 2000, popeJohn Paul II appointed Hočevar the coadjutor bishop of Belgrade. He was ordained a bishop on 24 May 2000 in the Church of Mary Help of Christians in Ljubljana. On 31 March 2001, pope accepted a request for the removal of the former archbishop France Perko, so Hočevar became Archbishop of Belgrade. On 16 April 2001, he was elected president of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia, later renamed International Bishops' Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius, an office he served until 2011.[3]
On 5 November 2022, it was announced that Pope Francis had accepted Hočevar's resignation as Archbishop of Belgrade and on the same day it was announced that Ladislav Nemet, bishop of Zrenjanin since 2008, would succeed him.[4]
