Pope Reshuffles Cabinet, Retires One U.S. Cardinal

c. 2006 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI made a long-awaited reshuffle of the Roman Curia on Thursday (June 22), ending the tenures of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s No. 2 official, and Cardinal Edmund Szoka, an American cardinal in charge of overseeing the affairs of Vatican City. Benedict replaced Sodano as […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI made a long-awaited reshuffle of the Roman Curia on Thursday (June 22), ending the tenures of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s No. 2 official, and Cardinal Edmund Szoka, an American cardinal in charge of overseeing the affairs of Vatican City.

Benedict replaced Sodano as secretary of state with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 71, the archbishop of Genoa, Italy. He replaced Szoka, the former archbishop of Detroit, with Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, 71, currently the Vatican’s foreign minister.


In choosing Bertone, Benedict tapped a close adviser who served directly under the pope when he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Bertone is well known for his vigorous defense of the Vatican’s moral teachings. He was among the first church officials to attack Dan Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code” as the runaway best-seller began to gather speed. His appointment reflected Benedict’s desire to have a trusted adviser in the Vatican’s second-most-powerful post rather than a seasoned diplomat in the mold of Sodano.

Lajolo will take Szoka’s role at the helm of the Governatorate, which oversees the financial and administrative affairs of the tiny sovereign state.

Szoka, a Polish-American prelate who maintained close relations with John Paul, is credited with straightening out Vatican finances after years in the red. It was unclear if the decision to have Lajolo fill his spot foretells a shift in Vatican foreign policy. As foreign minister, Lajolo led the Vatican’s push to improve ties with China, a campaign that appears to have broken down in recent months.

Benedict had been expected to replace Szoka and Sodano since the moment he took office more than a year ago. Both cardinals are 78, three years past the traditional age of retirement for cabinet officials.

But the pope has proceeded slowly in reshuffling the Vatican’s ranks. So far, major moves include the merger of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue with the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the appointment of an American cardinal, William Levada of San Francisco, as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s theological watchdog.

Sodano, a powerful cardinal who saw his influence expand as the late John Paul II’s health waned, released a statement describing his tenure as a “team effort.”


The retiring cardinals will retain their posts until mid-September.

KRE/PH END MEICHTRY

Editors: To obtain a file photo of Szoka, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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