Cardinal George to Preach Pope's Lenten Retreat
VATICAN, Feb. 8, 01 (CWNews.com) -- Cardinal Francis George of Chicago will
preach the annual Lenten retreat for the papal household, the Vatican has
announced. The retreat will be held from March 4 to 10, in the Redemptoris
Mater chapel of the apostolic palace
Cardinal George, who has led the Chicago archdiocese since 1997, is 64 years
old. He entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at the age of 20, and was
ordained to the priesthood in 1963. He became provincial superior in
Minnesota for the missionary order in 1973, and the following year moved
to Rome as vicar general for the Oblates-- a post he held until 1986. He
returned to the United States in 1987 as Bishop of Yakima, Washington, and
became Archbishop of Portland, Oregon in 1996 before being named to
succeed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in Chicago.
A scholarly prelate-- he studied philosophy at Washington, Ottawa, and
Rome-- Cardinal George is expected to give a marked different style of
retreat from the one preached by Cardinal-elect Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van
Thuan, who delivered the 1999 retreat in a simple, direct style.
The offices of the Roman Curia will closed during the week of the retreat, as
most of the ranking prelates at the Vatican join the Pope for the Lenten
spiritual exercises.
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February 9, 2001
volume 12, no. 40
USA News
www.DailyCatholic.org
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