The Italian died of complications from COVID-19. He held key positions in the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XV, and was apostolic nuncio in Chile during the years of the dictatorship
Cardinal Angelo Sodano arrives in St. Peter’s Square for the Palm Sunday mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on April 17, 2011 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was Secretary of State under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XV, as well as apostolic nuncio to Chile during the years of the dictatorship and accused of covering up sexual abuse, died Friday night. in Rome at the age of 94.
The cardinal, who was one of the most powerful men in the Vatican, had been long ago hospitalized in a Roman clinic for complications after contracting COVID-19, the Vatican media confirmed.
Born in Isola d’Asti, in the Piedmont region (northern Italy) on November 23, 1927, he was Secretary of State from 1991 under John Paul II until September 15, 2006 when Benedict XVI accepted his resignation to the position, while on December 21, 2019 he ceased to be the Dean of the College of Cardinals.
Before becoming Secretary of State, Sodano had an intense diplomatic career with positions in the Apostolic Nunciature in Ecuador and then in Uruguay and in 1968 he returned to Rome, called by then Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli to deal with the Holy See’s relations with European states.
Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano arrives at the Basilica of Santa Sabina to attend the Ash Wednesday service led by Pope Francis on March 5, 2014 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In 1977 he was appointed nuncio to Chile, under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and was the architect of John Paul II’s trip to the country in 1987 .
The cardinal was accused in Chile of having covered up the abuse of minors committed by the priest Fernando Karadima, with whom he had a close relationship , in addition to not reporting victims’ complaintsas well as putting a good word to promote as bishops those who covered up the case.
One of Karadima’s victims, the Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, Hearing the news, he wrote on social media that “he was a man who did so much harm to so many people and covered up years of abuse in Chile and around the world.”.
Sodano is credited with the successful mediation by the Vatican in 1978 between Chile and Argentinafor the resolution of the territorial dispute of the Beagle Channel.
Pope Francis, flanked by former Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, arrives at the Synod Hall for the Ordinary Public Consistory October 20, 2014 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
After ten years as nuncio in Chile, in 1988, John Paul II called him to replace Cardinal Achille Silvestini as Secretary of the then Council Church Public Affairs. A year later, the Apostolic Constitution, Pastor Bonus, came into effect, and Sodano assumed the title of Secretary for Relations with States, dedicating himself in particular to the Pontifical Commission for Russia, of which he was president.
He represented the Holy See in various international meetings such as the conferences of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In December 1990, he assumed the position of Pro-Secretary of State, becoming Secretary of State on June 29, 1991, one day after being appointed Cardinal.
He accompanied Wojtyla on 54 international trips and remained in office for a year after the election of Benedict XVI to become dean of the College of Cardinals for several years.
In 2010 it was the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, who accused Sodano of having offended the victims of sexual abuse and of having covered up the investigation of the crimes committed by the then chief of the Viennese diocese, Hans Hermann Groër.
(With information from EFE)