Pope condoles death of Italian Cardinal Antonio Innocenti

(September 8, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family of retired Italian Cardinal Antonio Innocenti who passed away on Sunday afternoon. He was 93. In a telegram to the late cardinal’s sister, Maria Antonietta Baggiani, the Pope expressed his heartfelt participation in her mourning recalling his years of zealous service to the Holy See. Cardinal Innocenti was a former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, former president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Preservation of the Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church and former president of the Vatican Pontifical Commission “''Ecclesia Dei''. Wherever he worked, the Pope said, he gave a priceless witness of fervent priestly zeal and fidelity to the Gospel. Cardinal Innocenti was born in 1915 a Poppi, in diocesi di Fiesole, and was ordained a priest for Florence diocese in 1938. He was appointed archbishop in 1967 to take up the post of Apostolic Nuncio to Paraguay. Later he also served as Apostolic Nuncio to Spain. With the death of Cardinal Innocenti, the number of cardinals in the world now stands at 193, of whom 116 are eligible to vote for a new Pope.