After a long illness, Cardinal Jaime Ortega has died at 82 years old. He was one of the most significant players of the Catholic Church in Cuba.
As archbishop of La Habana he attended papal trips with John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
On his last trip in 2015, these words of his earned him the praise by the pope.
We must be necessarily poor, in pastoral resources certainly, but even more so in daily life.
POPE FRANCIS
Cardinal Jaime said an uncomfortable word, very uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable. It goes against the cultural structure of the world. He said 'poverty.'
Cardinal Jaime Ortega was the one who picked up and announced the notes which were the basis of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's intervention during the pre-conclave meetings:
Thinking about the next pope: a man who, from contemplating Jesus Christ and from adoring Jesus Christ, helps the Church go out of itself toward the existential peripheries.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega lost his right to vote in an eventual conclave when he turned 80. With his death, the cardinal college has 217 members, 110 of them electors.
