Cardinal John Foley retires due to ill health, and has moved back to Philadelphia

It is just over two months ago that I wrote about Cardinal John Patrick Foley's visit to Westminster Cathedral, where he celebrated the 10:30 Mass on

5 December (here). It seems that even then Cardinal Foley was suffering from tiredness and weakness caused by leukaemia and anaemia. He had been diagnosed as suffering from both these illnesses three months prior to his visit to London.

On 8 February 2011, Cardinal Foley resigned as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre and returned to his native Philadelphia four days later. The Holy Father formally accepted John Foley's resignation on Thursday 24 February, although both men met for a final farewell on 10 February.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Cardinal Foley's retirement in yesterday's edition (here). David O'Reilly, writing for the Philadelphia paper, mentioned that the Cardinal was popular both "... in Rome and Philadelphia for his informality and good humour." After returning to his native city, Cardinal Foley is said to have "... joked that he was not faking his illness just to return home, but acknowledged it was always his wish to come back to Philadelphia."

Cardinal Foley mentioned that his illnesses do not cause him physical pain, though they do lead to severe tiredness. Because of this, he will not be able to celebrate public Masses or Confirmations whilst back in his old diocese. In fact, the Philadelphia Inquirer also reported that during his last audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Foley "... had such difficulty rising [after receiving a papal blessing] that the pontiff, 84 and diminutive, had to help him to his feet."

Before his appointment as head of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Cardinal Foley had served for 23 years as president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Prior to his work in Rome John Foley often appeared on English-speaking television news programs, and even narrated NBC's broadcast of the papal Christmas Mass every year for 25 years. Before his retirement, Cardinal Foley was the longest serving head of any Roman dicastery.

John Foley has retired to St Joseph's Villa - the retirement home for priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. This home is located in Darby, where Foley was born 75 years ago. The Cardinal jokingly told the press on Friday that when he left Philadelphia over 27 years ago he had mentioned to the then archbishop, Cardinal Krol, that he hoped he could retire to St Joseph's Villa someday. Krol told him that this would be possible, but "Don't expect me to be there to greet you!"

Please keep Cardinal John Foley in your prayers.

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Cardinal Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky, Archbishop of Berlin, also retires

Pope Benedict XVI also accepted the resignation of Cardinal Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky as Archbishop of Berlin on 24 February 2011.

Cardinal Sterzinsky had reached the canonical retirement age for bishops - 75 years - on 9 February 2011, and had also been suffering from debilitating ill health prior to this. The Cardinal has been hospitalised for several weeks, and continues to receive treatment.

Cardinal Sterzinsky became the Bishop of Berlin in 1990, was created Cardinal in 1991, and then rose to become the Archbishop of Berlin in 1994 - when the See was elevated to Metropolitan status.

Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting Berlin later on in the year. He now faces the task of appointing the man who, as Archbishop of Berlin, will host him during his visit!

Please keep this devoted bishop in your prayers.

NB - Both the Cardinal Foley and Cardinal Sterzinsky remain cardinal electors - with the right to participate in the election of a pope - until they reach their 80th birthday.

[Picture note: Top: Cardinal John Patrick Foley; source: The Archdiocese of Philadelphia - which also gives more information on his retirement (here). Bottom: Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky; attributed to Longbow4u and published under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 1.0 Licence; source: Wikimedia Commons (here)]