Catholic World News News Feature

Cardinal Krol, Influential Papal Advisor, Dies At 85 March 04, 1996

PHILADELPHIA (CWN) - Cardinal John Krol, an outspoken bishop and friend of Pope John Paul II, died on Sunday at home from diabetes-related kidney problems. He was 85.

From humble beginnings as a butcher in Cleveland, Cardinal John Krol rose to become a prince of the Church, a position to which he never aspired. As Archbishop of Philadelphia, the sixth-largest in the US, he frequently spoke out against Communism and for nuclear disarmament.

Through his Polish background and family connections, Cardinal Krol maintained communications with the Polish Church behind the Iron Curtain, and befriended Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, now Pope John Paul II. Both bishops were elevated to cardinal at the same time in 1967. It is widely rumored that Cardinal Krol was instrumental in sponsoring Cardinal Wojtyla for election to the papacy in 1978.

Cardinal Krol, born in Cleveland in 1910 of Polish immigrants, was ordained to the priesthood in 1937. In 1961, he was appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia where he remained until his retirement in 1988. The cardinal's successor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua said, "His death is a great loss to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the entire Philadelphia region as well as to the Catholic Church of the United States."

Cardinal Krol's body will rest at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on Wednesday and Thursday, with a funeral Mass at noon Friday. Father Daniel E. Mackle told worshipers Sunday at the Latin Mass at the basilica that the cardinal's leadership continued even as his health was failing. "He showed us that God would always give us the grace and strength," Father Mackle said, "no matter what He put in our way."