Posted on 06/22/2006 5:12:14 AM PDT by Carolina
The Holy Father has accepted Cardinal Sodano's letter of resignation according to Canon 354. Cardinal Sodano will remain at his position as Vatican Secretary of State until September 15, 2006.
The Holy Father has named Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa, as the new Secretary of State beginning September 15th.
In addition, the Holy Father has accepted Cardinal Edmund Szoka's resignation and will also remain until September 15th as President of the Pontifical Council for the Vatican State.
Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, at present, the Secretary for Relations with States, has been named to be the new President to succeed Cardinal Szoka.
Catholic Ping.
Persistent rumors confirmed.
Please edit headline to correct spelling of "succeed". Too early. Need more coffee.
Interesting. I've been reading about Cdl Bertone, but I don't know anything about Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, who is going to replace Cardinal Szoka. Any information?
| Date | Age | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 1935 | 71.47 | Born | Novara, Italy |
| 29 Apr 1960 | 25.3 | Ordained Priest | Priest of Novara, Italy |
| 3 Oct 1988 | 53.8 | Appointed | Titular Archbishop of Caesariana |
| 3 Oct 1988 | 53.8 | Appointed | Secretary of Adminstration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, Roman Curia |
| 6 Jan 1989 | 54.0 | Ordained Bishop | Titular Archbishop of Caesariana |
| 7 Dec 1995 | 60.9 | Appointed | Apostolic Nuncio to Germany |
| 7 Oct 2003 | 68.8 | Appointed | Official of State, Roman Curia |
| 15 Sep 2006 | 71.7 | Appointed | President of Governatorate of Vatican City State, Roman Curia |
| 15 Sep 2006 | 71.7 | Appointed | President of Vatican City State, Roman Curia |
Interesting that there is a J in his name when technically that letter does not exist in the Italian language. Same thing with X though there was a prime minister named Craxi many years ago.
I clicked on the link for Novara but it did not work. I assume this Novara is different from the Novara di Sicilia, where my maternal grandfather was born.
Thank you. He appears to be a long-term "Vaticanista," so I imagine it will be a fairly smooth and uneventful change.
Sorry about the broken links. I cut and paste from the source code and didn't realize that the links were relative to Catholic Hierarchy and not absolute.
I understand that he and the Pope are friends.
Vatican, Jun. 22 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has named Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa to be the next Vatican Secretary of State, replacing Cardinal Angelo Sodano (bio - news).
Cardinal Sodano, who has served an extraordinary 15 years in the powerful post, will formally step down on September 15, the Vatican announced on June 22. He will be approaching his 79th birthday-- well beyond the ordinary retirement age of 75-- when he leaves the Secretariat of State.
The Secretary of State is the 2nd-ranking official at the Vatican, with broad authority over the internal and external policies of the Holy See. Acting effectively as "prime minister" for the Roman Pontiff, the Secretary of State coordinates the flow of work at the Holy See, and exerts sweeping influence over other offices of the Roman Curia.
[For a more detailed description of the Secretariat of State, see today's separate CWN headline story.]
In naming Cardinal Bertone, Pope Benedict has made an important move to mold his own leadership team at the Vatican. After his election last April, the Pontiff had re-appointed all the leaders of the Roman Curia who had served under Pope John Paul II (bio - news). Last May, the Pope had named an American prelate, Cardinal William Levada, to fill the spot he himself had vacated, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The long-awaited Vatican announcement indicated that Cardinal Sodano will remain in his current position, "with all the faculties inherent to that role," until September 15. On that date, the Vatican said, Pope Benedict will receive Cardinal Sodano in an audience to thank him "for his long and generous service to the Holy See."
The appointment of a new Secretary of State had been long expected, and Cardinal Bertone's name had emerged in recent weeks as the Pope's likely choice. (On the basis of reports from contacts in Rome, CWN editor Phil Lawler predicted in May that Cardinal Bertone would be the new Secretary of State.)
A 71-year-old Salesian, Cardinal Bertone served from 1995 to 2002 as secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he was deputy to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Unlike most prelates who have served as Secretary of State in recent years, Cardinal Bertone has never been active in the Vatican diplomatic corps; he will be the first non-diplomat to occupy the office since Cardinal Jean Villot was appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1969.
[For a more detailed profile of Cardinal Bertone, see the separate CWN headline story.]
Cardinal Sodano thanked Pope Benedict for the confidence he had shown by extending his appointment as Secretary of State after the death of Pope John Paul II. In his own statement released on June 22, the outgoing Secretary of State offered his best wishes to Cardinal Bertone, his successor.
Noting that he had received many interview requests in recent weeks, as the rumors of his impending replacement spread, Cardinal Sodano told reporters that after completing his term of service in September, he hoped to be able to speak at some length with the media about "the work that has been done over the years at the Secretariat of State and in the different bureaus of the Roman Curia."
Jun. 22 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has named Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo to become the president of the Vatican City governate. He will succeed Cardinal Edmund Szoka, whose retirement will become effective on September 15.
Archbishop Lajolo is currently serving as the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States: in effect, the Vatican's foreign minister. His new post will almost certainly entitle him to a cardinal's red hat.
Cardinal Szoka, an American prelate of Polish ancestry who was one of the closest collaborators of Pope John Paul II (bio - news), will be stepping down just after his 79th birthday. Archbishop Lajolo became the Vatican's top foreign-affairs official in October 2003, replacing the French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is now the Vatican archivist. Born in Novara, Italy, in 1935, he was ordained in 1960 and entered the Vatican diplomatic service in 1970. He served as secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See from 1988 to 1995, then as apostolic nuncio to Germany, before assuming his current post in 2003.
The Vatican has not yet named Archbishop Lajolo's replacement as Secretary for Relations with States.
Cardinal Szoka, a native of Michigan who became Archbishop of Detroit in 1981, was brought to Rome by Pope John Paul in 1990 to head the Vatican's prefecture for economic affairs. He was extremely successful in that role, helping the Vatican to overcome the banking scandal of the 1980s, reforming the financial affairs of the Holy See despite resistance from some veteran prelates, and shaping a budget that produced a surplus after 23 consecutive years of Vatican deficits. In 1997 he was moved to his current post as head of the Vatican City government.
Critics said that putting a Ratzinger-Bertone alliance at the top of the Vatican hierarchy meant that the Church would be in the hands of "arch-conservatives" at a time when many Catholics, especially in the Third World, are calling for reform.Ooooh, evil archconservatives.
That comment is rich! The kind of reform the Anglicans are having? No thanks! We'll just wait and invite the faithful remnant that remains to join the Catholic Church. "Bring back the altar rails!" That was the first thing my Anglican convert friend said to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.