|
Order in College: |
Cardinal Priest |
| With Title:
|
S. Susanna |
|
Native Country: |
USA |
| Appointed by:
|
John Paul II
on 25 May 1985 |
| Ecclesiastical
Office:
|
Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Majors |
| Papal Elector:
|
Eligible;
Ineligible on
4 November 2011 |
Cardinal Bernard Francis Law was born in Torreon, Mexico, on November 4, 1931, the son of a U.S. Air Force colonel. He was ordained a priest of the diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, on May 21, 1961. From 1963 to 1968 he was editor of the Natchez-Jackson diocesan newspaper. He was the director of the NCCB Committee for Ecumenical and Interrelgious Affairs from 1968 to 1971. On December 5, 1973, he was ordained bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In 1980 he was appointed the Holy See's delegate to coordinate the application of the "Pastoral Provision" by which married clergy who convert to the Catholic faith could petition Rome to be ordained Catholic priests by exception to the law of celibacy within the Latin Rite. From January 11, 1984 until December of 2002, he served as archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts. In 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archpriest of the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiori. He was created a cardinal on May 25, 1985. His titular church is St. Susanna. Cardinal Law also serves in the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for Oriental Churches, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Congregation for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Council for Culture, and the Council for the Family. |
|
