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Catholic World News News Feature

Cardinal Willebrands, ecumenical pioneer, dead at 96 August 02, 2006

Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, a leading Catholic figure in ecumenical affairs in the years after Vatican II, died August 1 at a nursing home in the Netherlands.

At the age of 96, Cardinal Willebrands had been the oldest living member of the College of Cardinals. (That distinction is now held by Cardinal Alfons Stickler, the retired Vatican archivist, whose 96th birthday will be August 23.)

Cardinal Willebrands had served for nearly 30 years in the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. He was named secretary of that Council in 1960 when it was first established by Pope John XXIII, and promoted by Pope Paul VI to become the Council's president in 1969. He resigned that post in December 1989. He also served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1975 to 1983. He was raised to the College of Cardinals by Pope Paul in 1975.

Born in September 1909, Johannes Willebrands was ordained to the priesthood in 1934 and consecrated a bishop in 1960 with his appointment to the post in the Roman Curia. He participated in the Second Vatican Council, playing an important role in the development of statements on ecumenism, and helped to arrange the historic meeting between Pope Paul and the Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964.

Known as "the Flying Dutchman" because of his frequent travel to confer with other religious leaders, Cardinal Willebrands was a zealous controversial proponent of closer ties with other Christian bodies. That role sometimes drew him into debates over the interpretation of Catholic teachings, and his years at the head of the Utrecht archdiocese-- at a time of serious disputes among Catholics in the Netherlands over doctrinal and liturgical questions-- added to controversy that surrounded him.

Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to Cardinal Willebrands in a message to Cardinal Adrianus Simonis, his successor as Archbishop of Utrecht. The Pope described the deceased prelate as "a tireless pastor in service to the People of God and the unity of the Church," who gave "new life to ecumenical dialogue." He prayed that God would "welcome into the peace of his Kingdom this faithful servant of the Word and of brotherhood among Christians."

In a separate telegram to Cardinal Walter Kasper, the current president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, the Pope said: "I give thanks to the Lord for all the work done by the cardinal his ecumenical relations, of which he was an ardent advocate from the beginning of his priestly ministry." The Holy Father said that he prays the work of the late Dutch cardinal will bear fruit.