Tuesday, December 9, 2008

FRANCIS CARDINAL ARINZE - AVE ATQUE VALE

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The sad news coming from Rome this morning is that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Francis Cardinal Arinze as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments upon his having reached the age limit for cardinals of 80.

He will be missed. He has been an exceptional Prefect. Not only has he been an eager enforcer of the discipline ordered by the Council and subsequent popes, he has been a great teacher and an indefatigable traveler going around the world encouraging bishops and priests to respect the liturgical laws of the Church.

The new Prefect will be Antonio Cardinal Canizares Llovera, the Archbishop of Toledo, Spain. One can assume that he will follow the example of Cardinal Arinze and for that we can be happy. However, in Spain he was a bulwark of opposition to the steady slide of Spain into moral relativism under the Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero.

Let us hope that Pope Benedict will give Toledo and Spain another good, orthodox archbishop.



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