Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state emeritus of the Vatican and dean emeritus of the College of Cardinals, died on Friday in Rome at the age of 94, a victim of complications related to covid-19. Sodano revealed on May 13, 2000, the third part of the Secret of Fatima, at the request of John Paul II.
In a statement, the Shrine of Fatima today mourned the death of the cardinal where he expresses “gratitude and sorrow” for the death and recalls his connection to the message of Fatima.
“On the solemn occasion of his coming to Fatima, in May 2000, the Supreme Pontiff commissioned him to communicate the meaning of the third part of the Secret of Fatima. ‘The vision of Fatima refers above all to the struggle of atheistic systems against the Church and Christians and describes the imam suffering of witnesses to the faith of the last century of the second millennium. It is an endless Way of the Cross, guided by the Popes of the twentieth century, he said in the address he made in Fatima, at the end of the Mass”, recalls the Sanctuary in the document sent to the press.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano indicated that, in the interpretation of the Little Shepherds, confirmed by Sister Lucia, “the ‘Bishop dressed in white’ who prays for all the faithful is the Pope”, and also acknowledged that, after the attack on May 13, 1981, “it clearly appeared to His Holiness that it was a maternal hand guiding the bullet’s trajectory, allowing the dying Pope to stop on the threshold of death,” the statement recalls.
The cardinal was born on November 23, 1927, in Italy. He was ordained a priest in 1950.
Francis recalls “exemplary dedication”
“The death of Cardinal Sodano awakens in my soul feelings of gratitude to the Lord for the gift of this esteemed man of the Church, who generously lived his priesthood initially in the Diocese of Asti and then, for the rest of his long existence, at the service of the Holy See “, the Pope recalled, in his message of condolence for the death of Angelo Sodano.
Francis recalled Sodano’s work alongside his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who “entrusted him with important responsibilities in Vatican diplomacy, even the delicate office of the secretary of state.”
He also mentioned the role of Angelo Sodano in the pontifical representations in Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile, considering that he dedicated himself “with zeal to the good of these populations, promoting dialogue and reconciliation”.
On the other hand, in the Roman Curia, “he exercised his mission with exemplary dedication”, added the pontiff, who recognizes that he, too, “benefited in some way by his mental and heart capacities, especially during the time in which he exercised the function Dean of the College of Cardinals”.
“In each assignment, he proved to be an ecclesial disciplined man, a kind pastor, animated by the desire to spread the leaven of the Gospel everywhere,” Francis added in his message, quoted by Vatican News, the Vatican’s official news portal.
Source: With Agencies
