Pope Benedict appoints new Vicar General for his Rome diocese

(June 27, 2008) Pope Benedict expressed his gratitude to Cardinal Camillio Ruini, who after serving as the Vicar General of the Pope’s diocese of Rome for 17 years, formally stepped down on Friday. In an address to some 400 officials of the Vicariate of Rome diocese, Pope Benedict also announced the appointment of the a new Vicar General for Rome - Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church. As the head of the universal Catholic Church, the Pope is the bishop of Rome with the Basilica of St. John Lateran as his cathedral. However, the administration of Rome diocese is entrusted to the Vicar General. The retiring Cardinal Ruini was born on February 19, 1931, in Sassuolo, Italy, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1954. He became auxiliary bishop of Reggio Emilia, Italy in 1983, and auxiliary bishop of Rome in 1991. That very year, he was appointed Vicar General of Rome diocese, as well as made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II. In his address on Friday, Pope Benedict recalled Cardinal Ruini’s close collaboration with Pope John Paul II as he ushered the Church into the 3^rd millennium. He also remembered the Cardinal’s leadership of the Italian bishops' conference from 1991 until last year. Pope Benedict expressed appreciation for Cardinal Ruini’s missionary solicitude saying it was always accompanied and sustained by an excellent capacity for theological and philosophical reflection. The Holy Father said that apostolate must constantly be nourished by thought in order to find meaning in gestures and actions, or else it will be reduced to sterile activism.