Pope says Austrian Cardinal Stickler used 'gifts of mind and heart'

Published: 2007-12-13

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said Cardinal Alfons Stickler, who died Dec. 12 at the age of 97, used his "gifts of mind and heart" to serve the church. The Austrian, who was the world's oldest living cardinal, died in Rome. The cause of death was not announced. Pope Benedict was scheduled to celebrate his funeral Mass Dec. 14 in St. Peter's Basilica. In a telegram of condolence to the cardinal's surviving brother and three sisters, Pope Benedict spoke of the cardinal's "many years of sincere and industrious collaboration with the Holy See," particularly his years as prefect of the Vatican Library and the Vatican Secret Archives. In a separate telegram to the superior general of the Salesians, the religious order to which Cardinal Stickler belonged for 80 years, the pope said that, "with profound gratitude, I remember the gifts of mind and heart" of the cardinal. The pope praised the cardinal especially for his service to the church during his years as a professor and then rector, 1958-66, of the Pontifical Salesian University in Turin, Italy.

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