VATICAN CITY (CNS): Italian Cardinal Francesco Colasuonno, who was an expert in East European diplomacy and a one-time Vatican envoy to the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 78.
The cardinal, who had been ill for some time, died on May 31 at his family’s home in Grumo Appula in southern Italy, Church officials said.
In a telegram, Pope John Paul II praised the late cardinal for his “intense and patient work” during a dramatic period of suffering for the Church in Eastern Europe.
Cardinal Colasuonno’s 35-year career as a Vatican diplomat included postings and other assignments on four continents. He was best known for his painstaking negotiations with East European Communist authorities in the 1980s and 1990s over such issues as the Church’s legal status, the appointment of bishops and seminary enrolments.
When the Soviet bloc collapsed in 1989, he was considered the Vatican’s leading expert on Church affairs in the region.
Cardinal Colasuonno’s death has left the College of Cardinals with 167 members, of whom 111 are under age 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave.
