Pope’s condolence for Cardinal Giovanni Cheli

February 8, 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his sorrow at the death of Italian Cardinal Giovanni Cheli, who passed away early Friday morning in Rome at the age of 94. The former president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, had been ill for quite some time was also hospitalized. In a condolence message to Bishop Francesco Ravinale of Asti, the diocese to which Cardinal Cheli belonged as a priest, the Pope described the late prelate as a "zealous pastor, faithful to the Gospel and to the Church." The Holy Father recalled "with gratitude his valuable and painstaking collaboration for so many decades with the Apostolic See." Cardinal Cheli, the Pope recalled, "leaves the witness of a life spent in coherent and generous fidelity to his vocation as a priest attentive to the needs of the faithful, especially for the Christian education of youth." The prelate’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica. With the death of Cardinal Cheli, the number of cardinals worldwide now stands at 209, of whom 118 are below the age of 80 and hence are eligible to vote for a new Pope in a conclave.
Cardinal Cheli, born in Turin in 1918, was ordained priest in 1942 for the Diocese of Asti. He was appointed Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in 1973, and in 1978 was consecrated bishop and nominated Apostolic Nuncio to the world body. In 1988, he was appointed the first president of the Vatican’s new Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Blessed John Paul II. He retired from his job in 1998.