Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we spotlight each member of the Conclave in alphabetical order. We find this necessary as our dear Sovereign Pontiff Pope John Paul II grows older, clinging to hope, as we join him, of seeing the light of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart with the dawn of the new millennium - the Jubilee Year 2000. How much longer this 264th successor of Peter has left on this earth only God knows for sure, but His Divine Mercy is evident in allowing him to be with us this long for he truly is a saint for our times, truly Christ's Vicar on earth in these waning days before the glorious Reign of the Sacred Heart, the Time of Peace, the Era of the Eucharistic Presence, the New Pentecost, the Second Advent, the Age of the Holy Spirit. What 1999 will bring we have no idea, nor does anyone else, but with John Paul II at the helm, we feel much more secure in knowing God's Will will be done. Nevertheless, we want to preview the future Pope whether that be soon or much, much later, for no one lives forever and eventually one of those prelates will be selected as the 265th successor of Peter. This will give the reader a better insight into the man whom the Holy Spirit will move the conclave to choose. Thus we bring the reader vignettes on each cardinal in alphabetical order gleaned from the Catholic Almanac, The Official Catholic Directory, Inside the Vatican and other sources.
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95. Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo
Sicilian-born Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo was born in Villafranca Sicula in the Diocese of Agrigento on September 23, 1918 during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV. After minor seminary in Agrigento, he took advanced scholastic studies at the Major Pontifical Seminary in Rome and then at the Pontifical Lateran University before being ordained a priest at the age of 23 on April 12, 1941 by Pope Pius XII. He returned to the Lateran where he obtained his degree in Theology in 1942. The Holy Father requested that he enroll in courses at the Vatican's Diplomatic Academy. After the war he began working in the Office of the Secretariat of State in 1947 where he remained for eighteen years while also teaching diplomacy at the same Diplomatic Academy.
On December 7, 1965 Pope Paul VI named him a bishop and he was consecrated Titular Archbishop of
Miletus a month later on January 16, 1966. At the same time the Pope appointed him Pro-Nuncio to Indonesia which also incorporated East Timor, then a territory of the Portuguese. He remained at this post for three years until 1969 when he was made President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy for a year before the Holy Father announced his appointment as Archbishop of Palermo on October 17, 1970, marking a return to the land where he was born. Three years later he was honored with the cardinalate in the Consistory of March 5, 1973 along with fellow Italian Cardinal Pietro Palazzini who we covered in Monday's issue. Cardinal Pappalardo received the titular church of St. Mary Odigitria of the Sicilians. He was also given Curial membership in the Congregation for Oriental Churches and the Congregation for the Clergy. After twenty-six years as Archbishop of Sicily's largest see, he resigned on April 4, 1996 at the age of 78 remaining at Arcivescovado, Via Matteo Bonello 2, 90134 in Palermo, Italy.
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