Activity Report 2010 - Sovereign Military Order of Malta in the United ...

Cardinal Pio Laghi
Cardinal Patronus of the Sovereign Order of Malta,
1993 - 2009
His Eminence Cardinal Pio
Laghi, who died in Rome on
10 January 2009, had
served the Order as
Cardinal Patronus for 16
years. ‘The Order has lost
one of its most eminent members as
well as a great moral and spiritual
guide,’ the Grand Master Fra’ Matthew
Festing, in mourning his passing,
declared.
A solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated
by the Dean of the College of Cardinals,
His Eminence Angelo Sodano, in
St. Peter’s Basilica, in the presence of
Pope Benedict XVI.
Created Cardinal in 1991 and nominated
by Pope John Paul II as Cardinal
Patronus of the Order in May 1993,
Pio Laghi took on the important duties
of promoting the spiritual concerns of
the Order and its members, and the
relationship between the Holy See and
the Order of Malta. Most recently,
his many commitments included the
obsequies following the death of Grand
Master Fra' Andrew Bertie and the
swearing in of Grand Master
Fra’ Matthew Festing. Members of the
Order recall with affection his unfailing
presence at the Order’s annual pilgrimages
to Lourdes and to Loreto.
Remembered, too, was his touching
participation at the Order¹s annual international
summer camps for the young
disabled, and despite failing health,
he insisted on being in attendance at the
2008 youth camp in Stift Stams, Austria.
Pio Laghi was born in 1922 in
Castiglione, Italy. In 1942 he graduated
in Theology and was ordained in April
1946. Further studies took him to the
Pontificia Università Lateranense, where
he graduated in Canon Law in 1950.
He entered the Holy See in 1952 as a
diplomat in the Secretariat of State, and
served with distinction in Nicaragua,
Washington, Delhi and Jerusalem. From
1974 to 1980 he was Apostolic Nuncio in
Argentina, then Apostolic Delegate, and
from 1984, pro-Nuncio in Washington.
From 1990 to 1999 he was Prefect of the
Congregation for Catholic Education.
Cardinal Pio Laghi
In 2001, as Special Envoy to Israel and
the Palestinian Authority, the Cardinal
consigned a personal message from the
Pope which urged the parties to declare
a ceasefire and return to dialogue.
In 2003, during the Iraq crisis, Pope
John Paul II sent him to Washington to
advise President George Bush on the
position and initiatives taken by the Holy
See towards disarmament and peace in
the Middle East.
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SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA