ROMAN REPORT: OBITUARY
A champion of the immemorial Mass Alberto Carosa remembers His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos (1929-2018)
Cardinal Hoyos: tireless apostolic zeal
M
ay 18, 2018, is bound to go down in the history of the Catholic Church as a sad day for the traditional-minded faithful, since it marks the passing away of a prelate who has done so much to promote the cause of traditional liturgy based on the 1962 Roman Missal: the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy (1996– 2006) and President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (2000–2009), His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. It is impossible to give a detailed account of the religious trajectory of the late Cardinal in a short article so we will limit ourselves to the essentials, with a particular emphasis of the liturgy related highlights in his long life.
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Born in Medellín, Colombia, on July 4, 1929, he entered seminary at an early age and after studies in Europe, a doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and another in Sociology from the University of Leuven in Belgium. On October 26, 1952, he was ordained priest in the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Rome. He then returned to Colombia where he served as priest vicar and parish priest. After having been appointed as Coadjutor Bishop of Pereira with right of succession, in 1983, he took up the role of General Secretary of CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Conference). In 1987 he assumed the presidency of that body, a position he held until 1991. He then served as Archbishop of Bucaramanga, where
he served as ordinary until 1996, when John Paul II appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome. He was created Cardinal by the same Pope in 1998. In 2000, he was appointed President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. After his resignation in 2009, when he turned 80, the Cardinal continued to work as a consultant for different departments of the Holy See, but most of all continued to exercise his pastoral ministry, with a particular emphasis on the promotion and celebration of the old rite, which in his opinion should have been more aptly termed “Gregorian rite”. As far as is known, the Cardinal did not stand out as a particular upholder of the pre-Vatican II liturgy prior to his appointment as President of Ecclesia
AUTUMN 2018
