Angelo Felici

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Angelo Cardinal Felici
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Caesariana|

Angelo Cardinal Felici J.C.D. (July 26, 1919 in Segni, province of Frosinone - June 17, 2007 in Rome) was an Italian Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church and President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Before this role he served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 1988 to 1995.

Early life

He was ordained on 4 April 1942 and spent the next three years studying for his doctorate in canon law. In 1945 he joined the Vatican Secretariat of State where he worked until 1949. He was a faculty member at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, until he was appointed under-secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in 1964.

Episcopate

Pope Paul sent him on a mission to Jerusalem after the Six-Day War between Arabs and Israelis. Pope Paul VI appointed him as titular archbishop of Cesariana and appointed pro-nuncio to Holland on 22 July 1967.He became full Nuncio upon his consecration as a bishop in September of the same year. He was transferred to Portugal in 1976 and finally to France in 1979.

Cardinalate

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Deacon of "Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari" in the consistory of 28 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II. He was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1988 where he served until 1995. Whence he was appointed to be President of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei". Like all Cardinal Deacons he opted for the order of cardinal priests and his titular church was elevated pro hac vice to the rank of title on 9 January 1999. He lost the right to participate in a conclave when turned 80 years of age in 1999.

Death

On June 18 2007, the daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office reported the news of Cardinal Felici's death, occurring the previous day, and the condolences of Pope Benedict XVI.On June 19 2007, the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided at cardinal Felici's funeral Mass at the Altar of the Cathedra in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

External links

* [http://www.gcatholic.com/hierarchy/data/cardJP2-4.htm#53 Giga-Catholic profile]