VATICAN (CNS): Jozef Cardinal Tomko, the oldest member of the College of Cardinals, died on August 8 in Rome at the age of 98. The late cardinal had been hospitalised since the end of June after a fall, and he suffered further complications from Covid-19. He returned to his Vatican apartment on August 6 for continued care and passed away early on August 8.
A funeral Mass was to be celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica on August 11, and his remains to be buried at St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia.
Cardinal Tomko served nearly 16 years as the head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, which is responsible for coordinating Church activities in mission territories, especially Africa and Asia. After he retired in 2001, at the age of 77, he was appointed president of the Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congresses, until retiring in 2007.
Pope Benedict XVI continued to rely on the retired cardinal’s expertise, appointing him in 2010 to the Vatican commission studying the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2012, Pope Benedict appointed him and two other cardinals to lead a wide-ranging investigation into the so-called “Vatileaks scandal,” a series of leaks of letters exchanged among Vatican officials and between the officials and the pope himself.
The cardinals were tasked with helping the pope understand the reasons behind the leaks and the problems they appeared to indicate.
Despite his many responsibilities at the Vatican, the late cardinal remained active in pastoral ministry at a number of parishes in Rome. He also was active on an international level in the area of ecumenism, serving as delegate of the Holy See at the World Lutheran Federation and the World Council of Churches in Geneva in 1972. He was part of the executive committee of the Pontifical Mission Societies focusing on challenges facing consecrated life, the laity, and justice and peace.
His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 206 members, 116 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave.
