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Catholic World News News Feature

Venezuelan Cardinal Castillo Lara dead at 85 October 16, 2007

Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara, a longtime Vatican official and a leading critic of Venezuela's Preident Hugo Chavez, died on October 16 at the age of 85.

The Venezuelan prelate, who was living in retirement in his native country, was hospitalized in September with severe cardiac problems. He died as the country's bishops were gathering for a scheduled meeting in Caracas.

Rosalio Castillo Lara was born in 1922 and ordained as a Salesian priest in 1949. He served for 25 years in Rome, filling a number of important posts in the Roman Curia, including terms as president of the Pontifical Commission for Legislative Texts (the top canon-law body at the Vatican) and the president of the Vatican city-state. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 1985.

Since his retirement in 1997 and his return to Venezuela, the cardinal had become the country's most prominent critic of President Chavez, whom he once described as a "paranoid dictator." His criticism prompted Chavez to refer to the Venezuelan bishops as a group of "devils," claiming that they were plotting against the government.

With the death of Cardinal Castillo Lara there are now 179 members of the College of Cardinals, of whom 104 are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a papal conclave. There is speculation that Pope Benedict will call a consistory to name new cardinals in November, announcing his plans as early as tomorrow's weekly public audience.