Italian Cardinal Pompedda, former Vatican court official, dies at 77

Published: 2006-10-18

ROME (CNS) -- Italian Cardinal Mario Pompedda, an influential church figure serving in the Vatican's top tribunal, died in Rome Oct. 18 at the age of 77. Pope Benedict XVI offered his prayers for the late cardinal, saying in an Oct. 18 telegram that he was an able and "prepared collaborator" at the Vatican who showed a much-appreciated loyalty to the Gospel. The late cardinal, retired head of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican's top tribunal, died of unspecified causes after he had been hospitalized earlier in the month. Pope Benedict was to preside over the Italian cardinal's funeral in St. Peter's Basilica Oct. 20. Named an archbishop in 1997, the cardinal was appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Apostolic Signature in 1999, making him the Vatican's second-highest legal authority, after the pope.

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