Cardinal Raffaele Martino died on October 28 at the age of 91. His funeral will take place on October 31 in St. Peter’s Basilica. He served as Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York for sixteen years and later headed the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Vatican News
Vatican City, Tuesday, October 29, 2024 (REI): Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino died in Rome on the morning of October 28. He served as Cardinal Major Deacon, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Wanderlusts.
Born on November 23, 1932 in Salerno, Italy, Cardinal Martino was ordained a priest on June 20, 1957 and has a degree in ecclesiastical law. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1962 and served as Apostolic Nuncio in Nicaragua, the Philippines, Lebanon, Canada and Brazil. Between 1970 and 1975 he directed the International Organizations Section of the Secretary of State. In 1986 he was appointed Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York. In this way he actively participated in the main international conferences held by the United Nations.
After spending sixteen years at the United Nations in New York, Pope John Paul II called him on October 1, 2002 to lead the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He succeeded the French Cardinal Roger Echegre and the Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan in this position. From the beginning of his mandate, Cardinal Martino focused his attention on the difficult situation in Venezuela and the serious civil conflict in the Ivory Coast. He referred in particular to the tragic situation in the Middle East.
Pope John Paul II named him a cardinal on October 21, 2003. On October 25, 2004, the department under his direction published the long-awaited Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. In March 2005, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, together with several Catholic university institutions, promoted an international conference at the Holy See to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apostolic Constitution Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council. Since October 24, 2009, he served as President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The cardinal received numerous honorary titles and distinctions for his continued work towards peaceful and fruitful relations between humanity and culture.
The funeral will be held on Wednesday, October 30 at 3 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Jovani Battista Rey, Dean of the Congregation for Cardinals, will concelebrate the funeral, accompanied by cardinals, archbishops and bishops. At the end of the ceremony, Pope Francis will make a final farewell.
With the death of Cardinal Martino, the total number of cardinals has decreased to 233, of whom 121 can participate in the election of the Pope and 112 cannot.
