ROME – Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who rose to the heights of the Roman Catholic Church as the Vatican’s top diplomat, papal supreme power broker and influential rector profound influence of the former cardinals see my reputation tarnished by his connection to the cover-up of sexual abuse scandals, died on Friday. He is 94 years old.
His death was announced by the Vatican, which did not say where he died or give a cause.
Cardinal Sodano served as secretary of state, the second highest office in the Vatican after the pope, for 16 years. His tenure covered a good portion of his pontificate John Paul II, who once described him as “my first and most precious collaborator”. When Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses debilitated John Paul II, Cardinal Sodano, along with the Pope’s personal secretary, played an important role in running the church.
Cardinals mediate in the Balkan wars and powerful protest against the war of the George W. Bush administration in Iraq. In 2003 he told reporters“We asked to reflect not only on whether a war would be just or unjust, moral or immoral, but also whether it would be an opportunity to incite the one billion adherents of Islam. or not.”
But Cardinal Sodano is best known in the church for the power he often exercises in the Vatican hierarchy, including thwarting investigations into sexual abuse priests and raising visibility. his conservative and anti-communist vision of a church that puts the organization’s defenses first. In 2010, speaking in a public Easter speech, he famously called the allegations of abuse “Petty gossip.”
In 2019, Pope Francis accepted Cardinal Sodano’s resignation as rector of the College of Cardinals, saying kind words but also make it clear that the church must modernize and issued a decree to add term limits to the role of dean.
Francis, knowing Cardinal Sodano’s woes in the Vatican, where he has nurtured the careers of many top officials, has always been careful to show him respect, even in his death.
“The passing of Cardinal Angelo Sodano awakens in my heart a feeling of gratitude to God for the gift of this venerable man of the church,” Francis wrote in a letter of condolence Saturday. He added, “I recall his diligent work along with so many of my predecessors, who entrusted him with important responsibilities in Vatican foreign policy,” and he notes the cardinal who has worked for reconciliation in South America, where Francis, an Argentine, comes from.
Angelo Raffaele Sodano is born November 23, 1927, in northern Italy with Delfina Brignolo and Giovanni Sodano, a politician, but his career and relationships will be deeply rooted in South America, where he worked on the church’s diplomatic corps as a young priest. In 1977, Pope Paul VI sent him to Chile as Pope’s ambassador. He navigated, and critics say, developed extremely close to, say, the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet as well as for a charismatic priest, Father Marcial Maciel Degolladofounder of the Legionaries of Christ, a prominent and financially generous religious movement founded in Mexico, that powered the church with priests, universities, media outlets, and money .
John Paul II, sharing his anti-communist fervor, made him Cardinal Sodano in 1991 and quickly elevated him to secretary of state, a position from which the cardinal exercised near power. unmatched in the Vatican.
Critics have long argued that Cardinal Sodano abused that power and viewed him as a dominant force because of the secrecy and unrighteousness that alienated many faithful from the hierarchy in Rome during his reign. Pope John Paul II.
Cardinal Sodano is “the man who, more than any other person, embodies the abuse of power that has corrupted the church hierarchy,” said Jason Berry, a reporter specializing in scandals. Church sexual abuse scandal, written in a guest essay in the New York Times in 2013.
In L’Osservatore Romano, the official church newspaper, Cardinal Sodano in 2010 called allegations of abuse “unfair attacks” used by enemies “as a weapon against Cathedral”.
He has ignored efforts to urge Pope John Paul II to speak out against abusive priests, such as in the case of Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër. The pope has remained silent about that scandal, although Cardinal Groër’s successor as Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, said he was “morally certain” of the man’s guilt. Predecessor. Cardinal Schönborn told reporters a few years later that Cardinal Sodano “literally – in my face -” Victim? That’s what you said! ‘”
But criticisms of Cardinal Sodano often center on his connection to and protection of, Father Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, who has been involved in decades of child sexual abuse and abuses. seminarian, drug abuse, father and son and use the huge financial assets of his orders. – billions of dollars, by some estimates – to buy influence in the leadership of the church. Those revelations, and Cardinal Sodano’s seemingly benefiting from Father Maciel’s growth, cast a shadow over the entire pontificate of John Paul II.
Pope Benedict XVI dismissed Father Maciel from office in 2006. He died in 2008.
“We accept and regret that, because his mistakes were so serious, we were unable to take him as a model for a Christian or priestly life.” Legionnaires give in in 2010.
Cardinal Sodano has long denied allegations that he defended Father Maciel.
In 1998, charges against Father Maciel crossed the desk of a powerful German cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handled abuses. Cardinal Ratzinger ordered an investigation, but faced opposition – led, critics say, by Cardinal Sodano – Cardinal Ratzinger made an investigation table for several years.
Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. A year later, he replaced Cardinal Sodano.
But for nearly 15 more years, Cardinal Sodano will hold the post of rector of the College of Cardinals, even though he has already passed the voting age of 80 to participate in the 2013 conclave to elect a new pope. Benedict resigns.
Vatican analysts have reported that Cardinal Sodano use his influence to benefit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected in that conclave? and took the name Francis. But the influence of the cardinal waned in the new pontificate, which, with mixed results, sought to confront the church bureaucracy that Cardinal Sodano had long controlled.
Pope Francis has also taken important steps to shed light on Vatican missteps in dealing with the scourge of sexual abuse, moves do not always reflect well on Cardinal Sodano.
In Chile, Cardinal Sodano also befriended Fernando Karadima, another charismatic priest who has become influential among the social elite of the capital Santiago, and with whom he is deeply connected. with the military regime of the country. As early as the 1980s, there were allegations that Mr. Karadima abused boys, but Chilean officials repeatedly denied the allegations.
Exploding truth several years into the pontificate of Francis, tragically, who chose to trust his bishops because of the abusers, even accusing the victims of foolishness. As a result, the crisis paralyzed the pope and made him look deaf. Following the controversy, Francis changed strategy and introduced new standards of accountability and transparency within the church to prevent abuse from continuing and hold those who covered it up. Francis defrost Mr. Karadima in 2018.
On his 90th birthday, Cardinal Sodano returned to his hometown, near Asti, where he was ordained in 1950.
“This is sunset time,” he said. “Time to say thank you.”
Anna Momigliano contribution report.
