Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Andrea e Gregorio al Monte Celio has passed away on last Wednesday, 20 August 2014 at the age of 86. He was the Metropolitan Archbishop of Detroit, one of the largest and most important Archdioceses in the United States of America, from 1981 to 1990. He was then appointed as the President of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, and the President of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State, a post which he held between 1997 to 2006, essentially the top prelate in charge of the day-to-day governance of the smallest country in the world, the Vatican City, where the heart of the Church is.
http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/data/cardJP2-4.htm#169
Cardinal Szoka was created Cardinal in 1988 by Pope St. John Paul II in his fourth Cardinal creation consistory on 28 June 1988. His motto was “To live in faith”. This means an emphasis on truly living the faith in the life he led, and truly, he had been faithful and had already shown that faith through the actions he had done in his long and wonderful life filled with total dedication to the tasks given to him and to the people entrusted to his care.
We pray for Cardinal Szoka, that he will rest in peace, and God will reward him for all his hard and great work as the long time servant of God as the shepherd of the faithful in Detroit, as well as for all the ministries and good works he had done for the sake of God and His people in the entire Universal Church in his dedication and work in the Roman Curia. May the Lord welcome him into His embrace in heaven and give him eternal rest and happiness that he deserved.
With the passing of Cardinal Szoka, and the recent aging out of Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo, the College of Cardinals now stands at 210 members, with 116 Cardinal-electors and 94 Cardinal non-electors. The number of Cardinal-electors now is 4 below the specified maximum limit of 120.
There are now 4 Cardinal-elector vacancy in the College of Cardinals, 0 vacant Cardinal Suburbicarian Sees (for Cardinal Bishops), 5 vacant Cardinal Titles (for Cardinal Priests) and 9 vacant Cardinal Deaconries (for Cardinal Deacons).









