Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s senior diplomat, the ultimate power broker of the papal court, and the extremely influential dean of cardinals until his reputation was tarnished by his involvement in the cover-up of sex abuse scandals, died on Friday. He was 94 years old at the time.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a divisive Vatican power broker for more than a quarter-century who was accused of shielding one of the Catholic Church’s most prominent sex offenders, died at the age of 94.
The Vatican confirmed his death, but did not specify where he died or the cause of death.
Sodano, who had been ill for some time and died on Friday night, served as Secretary of State under two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and held the Vatican’s second highest position for 16 years, from 1990 to 2006.
In a condolence letter sent Saturday to Maria Sodano, the retired prelate’s sister, Pope Francis highlighted that Sodano had served in various capacities in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, culminating in his appointment as secretary of state by then-pontiff John Paul II on June 28, 1991. A day later, John Paul II, who would ultimately be canonized, promoted Sodano to cardinal.
Francis expressed “sentiments of appreciation to the Lord for the gift of this renowned member of the church” in his condolence message, praising his long service as a Vatican diplomat in South America, Francis’ native continent, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Chile.
It was commonly assumed that Sodano and John Paul’s secretary, then-Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, managed the Church throughout the late pope’s life as his health deteriorated due to Parkinson’s disease and other diseases. In 2005, John Paul died.
Sodano was born on November 23, 1927, in Isola d’Asti, a town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. In 1950, he was ordained a priest and earned doctorates in theology and canon law from the famous Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Lateran University, both in Rome.
He joined the diplomatic corps of the Vatican in 1959 and went on to represent the Holy See at foreign ministers’ meetings all around Europe.
By revealing the so-called third secret of Fatima in the year 2000, Sodano helped to put an end to a long-running mystery at the Vatican.
For 16 years, Cardinal Sodano served as Secretary of State, the Vatican’s second-highest office after the Pope. He served during a significant chunk of the pontificate of John Paul II, who referred to him as “my first and precious collaborator” at one point. As John Paul II’s health deteriorated due to Parkinson’s disease and other maladies, Cardinal Sodano and the pope’s private secretary took on a larger role in governing the church.
Under two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Angelo Sodano served as Secretary of State.
Following John Paul’s death, Pope Benedict intensified his investigations against Maciel, eventually removing him in 2006 when the Vatican admitted that charges it had dismissed for decades were real.
The cardinal was a mediator in the Balkan wars and a vocal opponent of George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. “We are asking for consideration not just on whether a conflict would be just or unjust, moral or immoral,” he told reporters in 2003. “We are also asking for reflection on whether it is timely to upset a billion followers of Islam.”
Sodano has denied multiple times that he was aware of Maciel’s double life and that he helped him cover it up. Maciel, a conservative who was viewed as a bulwark against liberalism in the Church, was known to have given the Vatican large sums of money.
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna accused Sodano of blocking a full-scale probe against former Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer four years after Pope Benedict replaced him as secretary of state.
Those allegations were likewise dismissed by Sodano.
Victims of clergy sexual assault chastised Sodano in 2010 when he said abuse was primarily “petty gossip” in a public Easter address.
Sodano was ordained as a priest in 1950 and entered the diplomatic service a few years later. Before returning to the Vatican for high administrative responsibilities, including the number two position, he worked in Vatican embassies in Ecuador, Uruguay, and Chile.
Angelo Sodano was chastised by victims of clergy sexual abuse in 2010 for suggesting that the abuse was largely “petty gossip.”
According to Vatican insiders, Sodano, who continued to live in the Vatican after retiring, had a substantial influence on the careers of Vatican officials for the rest of Benedict’s pontificate. Benedict stepped down in 2013.
Sodano’s funeral will be held in St Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday. The dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, will preside over the event, which will conclude with Pope Francis performing a traditional funeral rite.
