Pope sends condolences upon
death of Cardinal Sgreccia
 |
| (file photo) The late Cardinal Elio Sgreccia |
Pope Francis sends his condolences for the passing of
Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, who died on Wednesday at the age of 90.
By Devin Watkins
Cardinal Sgreccia served in various capacities at the
Pontifical Council for the Family and as the President of the Pontifical
Academy for Life from 2005 until his retirement in 2008.
He was widely-regarded an expert in the field of bioethics.
In a telegram sent on Thursday to the late Cardinal’s niece,
Professor Palma Sgreccia, Pope Francis recalled Cardinal Sgreccia’s “generous
service to the Church, especially his precious and diligent efforts in defense
of the fundamental value of human life”.
The late Cardinal, he said, advanced its inherent dignity
through study, formation, and evangelization.
“I extend my fervent prayers of suffrage so that the Lord…
may welcome this zealous servant of the Gospel into His joy and eternal peace,”
said Pope Francis.
With Cardinal Sgreccia’s death, the College of Cardinals
consists of 220 members: 120 Cardinal electors and 100 non-electors.
Funeral services will be held in St. Peter’s Basilica on
Friday, 7 June. Cardinal Re will celebrate the liturgy, and Pope Francis will
preside over the Ultima Commendatio and Valedictio rites.
Brief biography:
Cardinal Elio Sgreccia was born in Nidastore of
Arcevia, Italy, on 6 June 1928.
Forced to wait until the end of World War II to enter the
seminary, he was ordained a priest on 29 June 1952. He first worked as chaplain
to Catholic Action youth groups and as vice-rector of his former seminary.
In 1972, on account of his Bishop’s decision to offer
pastoral ministry to the faculty of medicine in the Roman University of the
Sacred Heart, he began to be a point of reference for the college community in
the field of ethics and medicine, eventually serving as director of the
bioethics institute at the faculty of medicine and surgery. From 1990 to 2006
he was a member of the Italian National Bioethics Committee.
On 5 November 1992, he was appointed titular Bishop of Zama
Minor and secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family. He was ordained
on 6 January 1993.
On 1 June 1994 he was transferred to the Pontifical Academy
for Life as vice-president and on 3 January 2005 he became president until 17
June 2008.
He is the author of the "Manuale di Bioetica", and
many other publications on health pastoral care, medical ethics and the family.
Pope Benedict XVI created him Cardinal in the consistory of
20 November 2010, as the Cardinal Deacon of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria.
Appointed by Pope Francis, he participated in the III
Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 2014) on The
Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization and
in the XIV Ordinary General Assembly on The Vocation and Mission of the
Family in the Church and Contemporary World (October 2015).
Cardinal Sgreccia died as an Honorary Member of the
Pontifical Academy for Life.
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