Church
mourns death of Cardinal Edmund Szoka
 |
| Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka |
(Vatican Radio) The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced the
death of Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, at age 86.
Cardinal Szoka served as Archbishop of Detroit from 1981-1990, and
went on to oversee the government of Vatican City State under Pope St John Paul
II and Pope Benedict XVI.
Below,
please find the complete text of the press statement from the Archdiocese of
Detroit on the death of Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka:
With sadness and great hope in the Resurrection we share news of
the death of Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, who served as Archbishop of Detroit
from 1981 until 1990 and went on to oversee the government of the Vatican City
State under Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
"We mourn the loss of a dedicated shepherd," said
current Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, who had served as a priest under
Cardinal Szoka in the 1980s. "For sixty years Cardinal Szoka gave himself
totally to his priestly service of Christ and his Church. He has gone
home to the Heavenly Father with our prayers. May the Lord give him the reward
of his labors."
Following his retirement from active ministry in 2006, Cardinal
Szoka had been living in Northville. He died last night, August 20, of natural
causes at Providence Park Hospital in Novi. He was 86.
Funeral arrangements will be made public as they become available.
Edmund Casimir Szoka was born Sept. 14, 1927, in Grand Rapids to
Polish immigrants Casimir and Mary Szoka. His father had immigrated from what
is now Belarus; his mother from Poland.
Cardinal Szoka was celebrating his 60th anniversary as a priest
this year, having been ordained by Bishop Noa on June 5, 1954, to serve the
Diocese of Marquette.
He had served as chancellor in the Diocese of Marquette until
being named the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Gaylord in June of
1971. After establishing the Diocese of Gaylord, Pope John Paul II named him
Archbishop of Detroit. He was installed to the post in May 1981.
The pope then made him a cardinal in June of 1988. Shortly
thereafter, he was appointed to oversee economic affairs at the Vatican City
State, in April of 1990, and was succeeded in Detroit by Archbishop (Cardinal)
Adam J. Maida.
Cardinal Szoka oversaw the Vatican City State under both Pope John
Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. He was made President of the Governatorate of
Vatican City State in 1997, and president of the Vatican City State in 2001.
A day after his 79th birthday in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI accepted
Cardinal Szoka's resignation.
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