Roger Etchegaray

Roger Marie Élie Cardinal Etchegaray (born September 25 1922 in Espelette, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France) is a Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and the Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals.

Etchegaray was the Archbishop of Marseille from 1970–1985, and was made Cardinal Priest of "S. Leone I" by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 1979. Cardinal Etchegaray was the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 1984–1998, and the President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" from 1984–1995. In 1995 he was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina, and was elected Vice-Dean following the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Roger Cardinal Etchegaray
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Porto-Santa Rufina (suburbicarian)|When Etchegaray visited China for a "Symposium on Religions and Peace" (September 12-19,2000) he said that he recognized the fidelity to the Pope of the Catholics of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). The CCPA constitution explicitly rejects submission to the Pope and declares itself to be autonomous from Rome.

The Vatican opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and sent Cardinal Etchegaray as an envoy to persuade Washington, DC to refrain from war.

Trivia

* If he is still alive on November 26, 2008, Etchegaray will overtake Giacomo Cardinal Antonelli (longtime secretary of state to Pope Pius IX) as the longest-serving cardinal to have "never" participated in a papal conclave. (He turned eighty and became ineligible to elect future popes in September 2002.)

References

* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/betch.html Catholic-Hierarchy.org]