Cardinal William Keeler, retired Archbishop of Baltimore, dead at 86

March 23, 2017

Cardinal William Keeler, the retired Archbishop of Baltimore, died in the early morning of March 23 at a nursing home in Maryland, at the age of 86.

Born in Pennsylvania, William Keeler was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Harrisburg in 1979. He became Bishop of Harrisburg in 1984, and appointed Archbishop of Baltimore in 1989. He served as Archbishop of Baltimore—the first diocese in the US—until his retirement in 2007 at the age of 76.

Then-Archbishop Keeler was elected president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1992. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

With Cardinal Keeler’s death there are now 223 members of the College of Cardinals, of whom 117 are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a papal conclave.

 

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Further information:

• Cardinal William Keeler, 14th Archbishop of Baltimore, dies at 86 (WBAL)