Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani died in Rome at the age of 92. He was a close collaborator of Pope John Paul II in the last period of his pontificate. The Cardinal worked as a Vatican diplomat in Madagascar and Turkey and later became the president of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See in 1997.
The funeral took place in St. Peter's Basilica and several other cardinals and members of the Curia were in attendance. The Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, presided over the Mass.
We are gathered around the altar of the Lord for the Eucharistic celebration in memory of Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani.
After the Mass, Pope Francis led the funeral rite of the last “Commendatio et Valedictio” inside St. Peter's. That morning, he had also sent a telegram to the family of the Italian cardinal expressing his condolences.
Cardinal Sebastiani belonged to the group of cardinals who are not electors in the event of a conclave, that is, those over 80 years old. With his passing, the College of Cardinals will now have 240 members: 132 electors and 108 non-electors.
CA
TR: KG
