On April 10, Card. Edward Cassidy died in Australia. He would have turned 97 in July.
The pope sent this telegram expressing his condolences to the nuncio in Australia. In the letter, he remembers the years Card. Cassidy worked to strengthen ties between different Christian denominations.
Edward Cassidy worked as a Vatican diplomat in India, Bangladesh and Taiwan.
John Paul II made him the third highest ranking official in the Vatican in 1988, and one year later, named him the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
This department remembers his work to strengthen ties between Catholics and Lutherans and Orthodox Christians. This work culminated in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed by the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation.
The cardinal retired in 2001. With his death, the number of cardinals falls to 225, of whom 126 are electors.
Javier Romero
