Cardinal Lustiger died on August 5th. He was the Archbishop of Paris and a friend of John Paul II. To quote from Catholic World News:
Paris, Aug. 6, 2007 (CWNews.com) – Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, a convert from Judaism and retired Archbishop of Paris, died on Sunday, August 5, at the age of 80.
The son of Polish immigrants, whose mother died at Auschwitz, had become the most influential Catholic figure in France for the past generation, and a confidant of the late Pope John Paul II (bio – news).
Cardinal Lustiger died in a Paris hospice. Although the cause of death was not disclosed, the cardinal had revealed earlier this year that he was gravely ill, and in May he made an emotional appearance before the Academie Francaise to bid farewell to his fellow members.
And another quote from CWN:
Paris, Aug. 10, 2007 (CWNews.com) – Paris bade farewell to the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger on August 10, with a funeral in the basilica of Notre Dame preceded by the recitation of the Kaddish, the traditional Hebrew prayer for the dead.
Archbishop André Vingt-Trois of Paris presided at the funeral service for the beloved cardinal, who was born of Polish Jewish parents and converted to Catholicism at the age of 14. Cardinal Lustiger, an influential figure in Catholic Europe who had been a close friend of the late Pope John Paul II (bio – news), died on August 5 at the age of 80. He had served as Archbishop of Paris from 1981 until his retirement in 2005.
Cardinal Lustiger had always expressed pride in his Jewish roots, and frequently visited the synagogue to pray Kaddish for his mother Gisele, a Holocaust victim who died at Auschwitz. As the cardinal was buried in the crypt of Notre Dame, a plaque was placed at his grave bearing a message in verse that Cardinal Lustiger himself had written. The message reads in part:
Becoming a Christian
Through faith and baptism,
I have remained a Jew
As did the Apostles.The rites for Cardinal Lustiger began in the square outside Notre Dame, with relatives praying the Kaddish and sprinkling soil from the Holy Land over the coffin, in accordance with the cardinal’s wishes. Then the procession moved into the basilica, where more than 2,500 mourners heard Archbishop Vingt-Trois describe his predecessor as a "spiritual master."
Among the many French leaders at the funeral at the funeral were President Nicolas Sarkozy– who had interrupted his vacation in the US to attend– and Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
The Econimst (UK) had a nice article and a picture of him at Auschwitz:
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