Cardinal Angelo Sodano, longtime Vatican power broker, dies

CNN
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Cardinal Angelo Sodano died Friday at the age of 94 in Rome, Vatican News reported.

The news agency said the cardinal was taken to hospital with pneumonia earlier in the month, after he tested positive for Covid-19. He was in poor health for some time.

And in a telegram sent to the cardinal’s sister Saturday, Pope Francis expressed his condolences.

“I remember his tireless work alongside many of my predecessors, who entrusted him with important responsibilities in Vatican diplomacy, even the delicate office of the Secretary of State,” Francis said.

Sodano has been a long-time presence for the Vatican, serving two popes as Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals. He remained influential even in retirement.

But he faced heavy criticism during the Church’s sexual assault crisis. In 2005, during a meeting with then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he reportedly asked her to intervene in a sexual assault lawsuit in Kentucky, which cited the Vatican as a defendant. But she refused, the National Catholic Reporter He said at that time.

He was repeatedly pressured during the ensuing years to downplay the importance of sexual assault or prevent investigations into the scandal.