Governatorate of the Vatican City State

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Cardinals Update : Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, President Emeritus of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State and the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State (Italy), turned 80, ceases to be a Cardinal-elector

Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo,Pope Benedict XVI leads a solemn mass at St Peter's basilica to celebrate the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

(Image of Cardinal Lajolo is courtesy of Spaziani)

On Saturday, 3 January 2015, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio, President Emeritus of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State and the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State (Italy), turned 80, and therefore, according to the rules written in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, he lost his right to vote in any future conclave. Cardinal Darmaatmadja was born at Novara in Italy on 3 January 1935.

Cardinal Lajolo was made Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio by Pope Benedict XVI in the 2007 Consistory of Cardinals on 24 November 2007, the second Consistory of his pontificate. Cardinal Lajolo was made a Cardinal in honour of his position as the President of both the Governatorate of the Vatican City State and the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State. He was for a long time involved in the works of the Roman Curia and in the relations between the Church and the states.

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http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/data/cardB16-2.htm#664

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(Coat of arms of His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo)

May God bless His Eminence Cardinal Lajolo with a blessed old age and health. May he remain strong in the faith and hopefully can perhaps still continue to work great graces and good works of love and peace just as he had once done in his long service to the Church, through his many contributions to the Church via the Roman Curia, helping to manage the extensive governance of the Church of God.

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The College of Cardinals now stands at 208 members in total, with 110 Cardinal-electors and 98 Cardinal non-electors. There are now a vacancy of 10 Cardinal-electors as compared to the maximum number of electors allowed in the Conclave of 120.

Next Cardinal-elector to age out (80) will be Cardinal-Patriarch Antonios Naguib (Egypt), the Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria of the Copts on 18 March 2015.

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Cardinals Update: Passing of Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, Metropolitan Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit (United States of America), at the age of 86

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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

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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.

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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).