A random visit to German website Kreuz.net informs me that Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky, the emeritus archbishop of Berlin, passed away today in the early hours of the morning.
Never feeling fully at home in the new Germany exemplified by the capital Berlin, Cardinal Sterzinsky had been suffering from ill health for a number of years. This was part of his reason to request the pope to be allowed to retire, a request that was granted in February. He had the earnest wish to be able to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to Berlin later this year – a wish that was not to come true.
The first and, as yet, only Cardinal-priest of San Giuseppe all’Aurelio, Cardinal Sterzinsky was 75 years old. His obituary is available in German at the website of the Archdiocese of Berlin.
Photo credit: Walter Wetzler, Archdiocese of Berlin
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December 31, 2011 at 14:23
Looking behind « In Caelo et in Terra
[...] June was the month of papal comments about new evangelisation and sacred music, the end of EF Masses in Groningen, the pope visiting Croatia, a new bishop in Görlitz, Bishop van Luyn’s farewell to Rotterdam, advice on financial compensation for abuse victims, Archbishop Eijk taking over as president of the Dutch bishops’ conference, and the death of Cardinal Sterzinsky. [...]