Italian Cardinal Giovanni Coppa has died in Rome at age 90. For years, he worked with the Secretariat of State, first as number three, and then as the papal delegate to oversee the nunciatures.
The Pope sent a telegram of condolence to Cardinal Sodano, in which he recalls that Giovanni Coppa worked for six Popes over his lifetime and was the first nuncio to Prague after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
With his death, the number of cardinals comes down to 214, of which only 114 are under age 80 and entitled to participate in an eventual conclave.
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