THE DEATH of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago from cancer yesterday has deprived the US Catholic Church of its most influential prelate. He was once seen as the most likely US bishop to become Pope.
The Cardinal received telephone calls from Pope John Paul II and President Clinton shortly before he died. Tributes came from the Pope, the White House and all over the US.
The Cardinal, who was 68, announced at the end of August that he was dying from inoperable pancreatic cancer and said that his greatest contribution might be the way he handled his illness. "As a person of faith, I see death as a friend, as the transition from earthly life to life eternal," he declared.
He tried to continue his duties as chief pastor to the country's largest diocese, but several weeks ago had grown so weak that he had to hand over to his auxiliary bishop.
He was ordained priest in 1952. At the age of 38 he became the youngest bishop in the US when appointed to Atlanta.
Last September Cardinal Bernardin joined a protest on Capitol Hill with other bishops against "partial birth abortions".
During September be also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House, and visited a convicted murderer who had asked the Cardinal to pray with him before his execution.
The Cardinal's death has come three months after he launched his "Common Ground" project to promote dialogue between the liberal and conservative wings of the Catholic Church. The document was supported by some bishops but criticised publicly by other senior prelates who fear that it will re open debates on women priests, priestly celibacy and other sensitive subjects.
Cardinal Bernardin, who was born in North Carolina of poor Italian immigrant parents, was seen as a "progressive" on most issues but he was careful not to depart from Catholic orthodoxy in doctrinal matters. He has been described as "the embodiment" of the Vatican II spirit of making the Church more relevant to the modern world.
He became an international figure and appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1983 as the man who masterminded the US bishops' pastoral letter on nuclear war and weapons. The document irritated the Reagan administration for its rejection of bombing of population centres, first use of nuclear weapons and arguments in favour of a limited nuclear war.
The Cardinal's greatest personal ordeal came in November 1993 when he was accused of having sexually abused a boy years earlier when he was archbishop of Cincinnati. His accuser, who had sued him for $10 million, later recanted and was reconciled with the Cardinal before he died of AIDS last year.