Cardinal Francis George dies after long battle with cancer
April 17, 2015
Cardinal Francis George, the retired Archbishop of Chicago, died on April 17 at the age of 78, after a long battle with cancer.
Cardinal George, who for years had been a leader in the American Catholic hierarchy, had stepped down from his pastoral duties in September 2014 after disclosing that he had been diagnosed with cancer for the 3rd time. He had survived an initial bout with the disease in 2006, and a 2nd in 2012, each time undergoing surgery and a lengthy recovery. Last year he disclosed that doctors had given him little hope of surviving after cancer cells were again discovered. He was hospitalized briefly earlier this month, as doctors worked to control his pain. He died at home.
No stranger to illness, Francis George had battled polio as an adolescent. A native of Chicago, he entered religious life as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and was ordained to the priesthood in 1963. He was named to head the order’s Midwestern province in 1973, and in 1975 he moved to Rome to serve as the Oblates’ vicar general.
In 1990, he was named Bishop of Yakima, Washington, by St. John Paul II, and in 1996 he became Archbishop of Portland, Oregon. After less than a year there, he was appointed to succeed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin as Archbishop of Chicago. He was raised to the College of Cardinals in 1998, and served as president of the US bishops’ conference from 2007 to 2010.
Respected for his intellect as well as his piety, Cardinal George became an influential figure in Rome and an important spokesman for the American bishops. He was a key figure in bringing out a new English-language translation of the liturgy, ensuring approval of the “Dallas Charter” that set new rules for curbing clerical abuse, and dueling with the Obama administration over the coverage of abortion in federal health-care policy.
In his later years especially, Cardinal George expressed severe misgivings about the secularization of American society and the growth of hostility to the faith. He made the dramatic prediction: “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”
With the death of Cardinal George, there are now 223 living members of the College of Cardinals, of whom 121 are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a papal conclave.
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