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Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, 72
Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico
Juan Sandoval Íñiguez was born on March 28, 1933, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, to a family of 12.
He entered the seminary in Guadalajara in 1945. He was sent to Rome in 1952 to continue his studies at the Gregorian University, where he obtained a degree in philosophy and a doctorate in dogmatic theology. He was ordained priest Oct. 27, 1957.
He returned to Guadalajara in 1961, and worked in the seminary in various posts including philosophy professor. He was named vice rector in 1971, and rector in 1980.
In 1988, he was appointed coadjutor bishop of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and received episcopal ordination in April of that year. He became bishop of Ciudad Juárez in 1992. He was named archbishop of Guadalajara in 1994, and elevated to cardinal that same year.
He was relator general of the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops in 1997.
Curial membership:
* Institutes of Consecrated life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Catholic Education (congregations)
* Culture (council)
* Latin America, Institute of Religious Works (commissions)
* Economic Affairs of the Holy See (office)
* Council of Cardinals for Study of Organizational and Economic Affairs of the Holy See
* Special Council for America of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops
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José Saraiva Martins, 73
Prefect of Congregation for Sainthood Causes
José Saraiva Martins was born on Jan. 6, 1932, in Gagos do Jarmelo, Portugal. He was ordained for the Claretians on March 16, 1957, and holds a licentiate in theology from the Gregorian University, and a doctorate in theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome.
After teaching metaphysics for a year at the Claretian seminary in Marino, Italy, he was assigned to the Claretianum, Rome, where he taught fundamental and sacramental theology for 10 years. He later taught sacramental theology at the Urbanian University, where he also served as rector in 1977-80, 1980-83 and 1986-88.
He is the author of many books and scholarly articles.
In 1988 he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and ordained an archbishop. That same year he was named prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes. He was elevated to cardinal in 2001.
Curial membership:
* Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Bishops (congregations)
* Health Care Workers (council)
* Special Council for Europe of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops
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Eusébio Oscar Scheid, 72
Archbishop of Saõ Sebastião do Rio de Janiero
Eusébio Oscar Scheid was born in Bom Retiro, Brazil, on Dec. 8, 1932. He studied at the Dehonian Fathers’ Seminary and was ordained a Dehonian priest of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome in 1960.
He holds a specialization and a doctorate in Christology, and taught dogmatic theology and liturgy in Brazil until his appointment as bishop of São José dos Campos in 1981.
He was appointed archbishop of Florianópolis in 1991. In 2001, he became archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, and that same year he was named ordinary for Eastern-Rite faithful resident in Brazil. He was elevated to cardinal in 2003.
The cardinal also served as president of South Region IV of the Brazilian bishops’ conference; within the bishops’ conference he is currently counselor of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He is also an expert in family ministry.
Curial membership:
* Social Communications (council)
* Latin America (commission)
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Christoph Schönborn, 60
Archbishop of Vienna, Austria
Christoph Schönborn was born on Jan. 22, 1945, in what is now Skalsko, the Czech Republic.
He studied theology at Le Saulchoir, philosophy and pyschology at the University of Vienna, Slavic and Byzantine Christianity at the Sorbonne and theology at the Catholic Institute of Paris. He was ordained for the Dominicans on Dec. 27, 1970. He has a doctorate in theology.
From 1973 to 1975 he was Chaplain at the University of Graz. He taught dogmatic and Eastern Christian theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He was member of the Theological Commission of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (1980-1991), among other panels.
From 1987 to 1992 he served as secretary of the commission responsible for drafting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
In 1991 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Vienna and was ordained bishop that same year. He was then appointed coadjutor bishop of Vienna in 1995, and became archbishop the see later in the year.
In 1996 he preached the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Pope and the Roman Curia. He is the author of many publications. He was elevated to cardinal in 1998.
Curial membership:
* Doctrine of the Faith, Eastern Churches (congregations)
* Culture (council)
* Cultural Goods of the Church (commission)
* Special Council for Europe of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops
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Henri Schwery, 72
Retired bishop of Sion, Switzerland
Henri Schwery was born on June 14, 1932 in Saint-Léonard, Switzerland.
The last of 11 children, he studied theology at the major seminary of Sion, then continued in Rome at the French seminary of St. Clare. In 1957, he was called to Switzerland to pursue other studies.
He was ordained a priest on July 7, 1957. He was then sent to Fribourg and obtained a university diploma in mathematics and in physics. In 1961 he taught in Sion.
For eight years, since 1958 he was diocesan chaplain of the Catholic Action of Young Students. Since 1958 until 1977, he was a military chaplain. Also, in 1958 he was chaplain to the Our Lady of Sion children’s choir and councilor of the Swiss Committee of Children Choirs.
From 1968 to 1972, he served as director of the minor seminary of Sion, and rector of the College in Sion from 1972 until 1977.
He was appointed bishop of Sion in 1977, and was ordained bishop that same year.
He was also member of the Congregation for Catholic Education from 1978 to 1983. From 1983 to 1988, he was president of the Swiss bishops’ conference.
He is the author of many pastoral letters and biblical-theological reflections on the relationship between the pastor and the human and religious reality of his Church. In 1978 he dedicated his first letter to the lay and priestly vocations.
He was elevated to cardinal in 1991. He retired in 1995.
Curial membership:
* Sainthood Causes (congregation)
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Angelo Scola, 63
Patriarch of Venice, Italy
Angelo Scola was born on Nov. 7, 1941 in Malgrate, Milan. He was ordained in 1970 and holds doctorates in theology and philosophy.
He was actively involved in the Communion and Liberation Movement before becoming assistant researcher in philosophy and then assistant professor of moral theology at the University of Fribourg.
In 1982 he was appointed professor of theological anthropology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, and taught contemporary Christology at the Lateran University, Rome.
In 1991, he was named bishop of Grosseto and received episcopal ordination that same year.
John Paul II appointed him rector of the Lateran University and president of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in 1995.
In 2002 the Pope appointed him patriarch of Venice. He was elevated to cardinal in 2003.
Curial membership:
* Clergy (congregation)
* Family, Laity (councils)
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Sergio Sebastiani, 74
President of Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
Sergio Sebastiani was born on April 11, 1931,
in Montemonaco, Italy. He was ordained for the Archdiocese of Fermo in 1956, and holds a doctorate in canon law from the Lateran University.
After studying at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, he was posted to Peru, Brazil and Chile before being recalled to the Secretariat of State.
In 1976 he was appointed apostolic pro-nuncio in Madagascar and Mauritius, with responsibility as apostolic delegate for La Réunion and the Comorros, receiving episcopal ordination that Oct. 30. In 1985 he was named apostolic nuncio in Turkey.
In 1994 he was appointed general secretary of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. In 1997 the Holy Father named him president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.
He was elevated to cardinal in 2001.
Curial membership:
* Bishops, Clergy, Sainthood Causes (congregations)
* Promoting Christian Unity, Interreligious Dialogue (councils)
* Apostolic Signature (tribunal)
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Crescenzio Sepe, 61
Prefect of Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Crescenzio Sepe was born on June 2, 1943, in Carinaro, Italy. He was ordained for the Diocese of Aversa in 1967, and holds degrees in theology and canon law from the Lateran University and in philosophy from the University of Rome.
He taught theology at the Lateran and Urbanian universities, and then studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was posted to Brazil and then recalled to the Secretariat of State, where he was appointed assessor for general affairs in 1987. He was also president of the Commission for Vatican Telecommunications.
In 1992 he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Clergy, receiving episcopal ordination that same year.
In 1997 he was named general secretary of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
He was President of «Peregrinatio ad Petri Sedem» from 1997 until 2001.
In 2001 he was named prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He is also the grand chancellor of the Urbanian University.
He was elevated to cardinal in 2001.
Curial membership:
* Clergy, Doctrine of the Faith (congregations)
* Social Communications, Interreligious Dialogue, Promoting Christian Unity,
* Interpretation of Legislative Texts (councils)
* Latin America (commission)
* Special Council for Asia of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops
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Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, 76
Retired Archbishop Tokyo
Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi was born on June 17, 1928, in Tokyo. He graduated from Gyosei (Stella Maris) Junior School as a minor seminarian of the Diocese of Tokyo, and received a philosophy degree and a specialization in theology from Sophia University.
In 1954 he was ordained a priest at Kanda Catholic Cathedral. In 1960 he earned a doctorate in canon law from the Urbanian University in Rome.
He was ordained auxiliary bishop of Tokyo in 1966. In 1969 he was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Tokyo.
He is the representative of the Religious Juridical Body of the Catholic Archdiocese of Tokyo; representative director of the Juridical Foundation of Tokyo Caritas House and of the Social Welfare Juridical Foundation: Karashidane, Jiseikai, Saint Johhankai, etc.
He founded the first Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace in 1970. He was also chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Social Activities, to establish basic policies for the Church’s active evangelization.
He was president of the Japanese bishops’ conference from 1983 to 1992. He was elevated to cardinal in 1994. He retired in 2000.
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Adrianus Johannes Simonis, 73
Archbishop of Utrecht, Netherlands
Adrianus Johannes Simonis was born on Nov. 26, 1931, in Lisse. He is one of a family of 11 children.
After his studies in the Hageveld and Warmond seminaries he was ordained a priest in 1957. After this he served as curate of two parishes. From 1959 to 1966 he studied biblical exegesis in Rome.
In 1970, he was named bishop of Rotterdam, and was ordained bishop in 1971.
In 1983, he was nominated archbishop-coadjutor of Utrecht with the right of succession. In 1983 he was installed as archbishop. Since then, he has been the president of the bishops’ conference in the Netherlands.
As archbishop, he assumed the role of president of the commissions for teaching and education, and for religion. He was named grand chancellor of the Catholic University of Nijmegen.
He was elevated to cardinal in 1985.
Curial membership:
* Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Catholic Education (congregations)
* Promoting Christian Unity (council)
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Angelo Sodano, 77
Vatican Secretary of State
Angelo Sodano was born on Nov. 23, 1927, in Isola d’Asti, Italy. He studied philosophy and theology at the seminary of Asti, and obtained a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University, and a doctorate in canon law from the Lateran University.
He was ordained a priest in 1950, and dedicated his first years to teaching dogmatic theology at the diocesan seminary and to the youth apostolate.
In 1959, he joined the Holy See’s Diplomatic Corps, and after having attended the Pontifical Ecclesiatical Academy, he served in Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile, as secretary of the nunciature.
In 1968 he was called to Rome to serve in the then Council for Public Affairs of the Church. During this period, as a member of the Holy See’s missions, he visited Romania, Hungary and East Germany.
In 1977 he was named apostolic nuncio in Chile. He was ordained bishop in 1978.
In Chile, he worked for 10 years visiting nearly every diocese and cooperating also in the happy conclusion of the pontifical mediation between Chile and Argentina, for the peaceful solution to the controversy over the sovereignty of the two states in some zones of the austral territory.
In 1988 John Paul II called him to serve as secretary of the then Council for Public Affairs of the Church. In 1989, he assumed the title of secretary for the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.
He has dedicated particular attention to the Pontifical Commission for Russia, of which he was president.
In 1990, he was called to serve as pro-secretary of state. He was elevated to cardinal in 1991. On June 29, 1991, he was named Vatican secretary of state. He was elected vice dean of the College of Cardinals in 2002.
Curial membership:
* Doctrine of the Faith, Bishops, Eastern Churches (congregations)
* Vatican City State, Institute for Works of Religion (commissions)
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James Francis Stafford, 72
Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
James Francis Stafford was born on July 26, 1932, in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied at Loyola College, Baltimore, 1950-52, and at St. Mary’s Seminary University, Baltimore, 1952-54. He also studied at the Catholic University of America, in 1962-64.
He was ordained priest in 1957 in Rome.
He was named auxiliary bishop of Baltimore in 1976, and was ordained to the episcopate that year. In 1982 he was named bishop of Memphis, Tennessee. In 1986 he was named archbishop of Denver, Colorado.
He was named president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, a post he held from 1996 to 2003. He was elevated to cardinal in 1998.
As president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, he organized the international meetings of the 12th World Youth Day in Paris in 1987; the 15th World Youth Day held in Rome during the Jubilee Year 2000 and the 17th World Youth Day in Toronto, in 2002. Previously in 1993, as archbishop of Denver, he had welcomed Pope John Paul II to that city for the 8th World Youth Day.
He was named Major Penitentiary of the Apo
stolic Penitentiary in 2003.
Curial membership:
* Doctrine of the Faith, Bishops, Sainthood Causes, Evangelization of Peoples (congregations)
* Interpretation of Legislative Texts (council)
* Special Council for Oceania of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops
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Georg Sterzinsky, 69
Archbishop of Berlin, Germany
Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky was born on Feb. 9, 1936, in Warlack, Germany.
Following World War II, in 1946 his family was forced to abandon their home to seek refuge in Thueringen. From 1948 he went to school in Erfurt, and in 1954 he began to study philosophy and theology at the regional seminary of Erfurt. In 1960 he was ordained a priest.
After spending two years at Eisenach, he served for two years as an assistant of theology at the seminary of Erfurt. In 1964 he was named vicar at Heilegenstadt/Eichsfeld.
From 1966 to 1981, he was a parish priest. In 1981 he was elected vicar general to Bishop Joachim Wanke, apostolic administrator of the territories of Erfurt-Meiningen.
In 1989 he was named bishop of Berlin, and received episcopal ordination that same year.
As bishop of Berlin, he lived the events that had pronounced the end of 1989, in this case, the destruction of the iron curtain and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
He was president of the bishops’ conference of Berlin from 1989-1990. In 1994 he was named archbishop of Berlin. He was elevated to cardinal in 1991.
Curial membership:
* Catholic Education (congregation)
* Migrants and Travelers (council)
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Edmund Szoka, 77
President of Governatorate of Vatican City State
Edmund Casimir Szoka was born on Sept. 14, 1927, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He entered St. Joseph’s seminary in Grand Rapids and then St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan. He was ordained a priest in 1954 in Marquette and served as an assistant priest in the parish of St. Francis in Manistique, Michigan.
In 1955, he became secretary to the Bishop Noa of Marquette. During the period of 1955 and 1962, he also served as chaplain at St. Mary’s Hospital.
From 1957 to 1959, he attended the Faculty of Canon Law at the Urbanian University in Rome. Upon returning to the United States, from 1960 until 1971 he served at the matrimonial tribunal of the diocese of Marquette.
In 1971 he was elected bishop of Gaylord, Michigan, and was ordained bishop on July 20. He was named archbishop of Detroit in 1981.
In 1990 he was named president of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See that year, and remained in that post until 1997.
In 1997, he was named president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. He had been elevated to cardinal in 1988.
In 2001, he was named president of the Governatorate of Vatican City State.
Curial membership:
* Secretariat of State (second section)
* Sainthood Causes, Bishops, Evangelization of Peoples, Clergy, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (congregations)
