According to Vatican News, Cardinal Angelo Sodano passed away on Friday at the age of 94 in Rome.
The news agency said that the cardinal had been sent to the hospital earlier this month with pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19. He has been ill for a while now.
Via telegram, Pope Francis conveyed his condolences to the cardinal’s sister on Saturday.
His “diligent work” was “remembered by so many of my predecessors,”
ho gave him important diplomatic tasks and even the tough job of Secretary of State, according to Pope Francis.
He served two popes as secretary of state and dean of the College of Cardinals, and was therefore a familiar face throughout Vatican City for a very long period.
Even after his retirement, he remained prominent.
It was also around this time that the church’s sexual abuse problem took a heavy toll on him. When Condoleezza Rice was secretary of state,
He urged her to interfere with a sexual assault case in Kentucky, which included the Vatican as a defendant, in 2005, according to reports.
The National Catholic Reporter said at the time that she had rejected the offer.
Following the affair, he was often criticized for either downplaying or obstructing the inquiry.
About the life of Angelo Sodano
Angelo Raffaele Sodano, a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church from 1991 until 2022, was an Italian bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church.
Sodano was the first person since 1828 to serve as Dean and Secretary of State at the same time.
He accepted Sodano’s resignation on June 22nd, 2006, effective September 15th; Benedict XVI accepted the resignation on June 22nd, 2006.
He had been a member of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps since 1959, and he spent ten years of that time as nuncio to Chile.
Pope Francis accepted Sodano’s resignation as Dean of the College of Cardinals on December 21/2019
Тhe day after it was disclosed that he had protected sexually abusive clerics in the Legion of Christ. Sodano resigned due to ill health, according to the Vatican.
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