Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a powerful Vatican prelate, dies at the age of 94

In a telegram of condolence on Saturday, Pope Francis said that Maria Sodano, the sister of a retired bishop, played an important role in the Vatican diplomatic corps, ending up as Secretary of State John, later Pope, on June 28, 1991. Paul II. The next day, John Paul, later canonized, was promoted to the rank of Cardinal Sodano.

In a letter of condolence, Francis expressed his “grace to the Lord for the gift of this venerable man of the Church” and paid homage to the Vatican diplomat for his long service in Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile, in South America on the Franciscan continent. . .

But at the end of his Vatican career, the Sodano Church’s legacy was tainted by the strong support of Reverend Martial Machiel, the religious founder of the late Mexican founder of the Legion of Christ, who later turned out to be a pedophile. Machiavelli’s priestly career was discredited by a religious practice he imposed on members of the Order. An internal investigation identified 33 priests and 71 theological schools who had sexually abused minors for eighty years.

During his years as Secretary of State in the Giovanni Paolo administration, Sodano prevented the Vatican from investigating allegations of sexual harassment against Machiavelli. The Vatican had decades of evidence that the cult’s founder, a favorite of John Paul and who had trained so many priests, was a drug addict and a pedophile.

The Vatican biography published after Sodano’s death does not mention the scandals. Instead, Sodano joined him as a senior diplomat at the Vatican, including his work for the “peaceful resolution of the dispute over the sovereignty of the two states,” in reference to the territorial dispute that erupted in the 1982 Falklands War between Argentina and Great Britain. achievements.

Speaking of Sodano’s career in the Vatican, where he served as the Vatican’s second foreign minister until 2006, Francis said the prelate fulfilled his mission with “exemplary dedication”.

In December 2019, Francis accepted Sodano’s resignation from his post as Dean of the College of Cardinals, who played a particularly influential role for the assemblies in preparing for the closed-door election of the Pope. Sodano has held this position since 2005.

Sodano was born on November 23, 1927 in Isola d’Asti, a Piedmontese town in northern Italy. He was ordained a priest in 1950 and obtained a doctorate in theology from the prestigious Pope Gregory University and in canon law. Papa Laterale University, both in Rome.

He joined the Vatican diplomatic corps in 1959 and eventually served as the Vatican for meetings of foreign ministers in Europe.

In 2000, Sodano played a role in completing a long-standing mystery in the Vatican by revealing the so-called third secret of Fatima.

In 2017, three Portuguese shepherds saw the Virgin Mary appear on an olive tree and the Virgin Mary told them her three secrets. The first two mark the end of the first and second world wars. Some have suggested that the third unsolved mystery is the doomsday prophecy.

Before the Pope’s visit to a popular shrine in Fatima, Portugal, Sodano said the children’s “comments” referred to a bishop dressed in white who “fell from below, appearing dead under fire.” This claim led to an attempted murder of John Paul in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981, during which the Pope was seriously injured. It was the same day Fatima first appeared in 2017.

Sodano’s body will be buried on Tuesday in St. Peter’s Basilica. The ceremony will be celebrated by Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, while Pope Francis will have the traditional funeral at the end of the ceremony.