FUNERAL OF CARDINAL LOURDUSAMY, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Oriental Churches

Vatican City, 5 June 2014 (VIS) – At 11.30 this morning, at the major altar of St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, presided at the funeral mass for Cardinal Simon Lourdusamy, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, who died on Monday in Rome at the age of 90.

In his homily, the dean of the College of Cardinals described Cardinal Lourdusamy as “a zealous priest who worked for more than ten years in his beloved diocese of Pondicherry and then, for almost a decade, was pastor of the archdiocese of Bangalore. He then generously accepted Pope Paul VI's call to Rome, to serve in the missionary Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Here, for twenty years, he dedicated his energies to the great cause of the evangelisation of peoples, until finally, submitting to the trials of illness, he continued to serve the Church in prayer and suffering, with an attitude of great serenity”.

Following the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Father administered the rites of “Uitima Commendatio” and “Valedictio”.