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CLERGY-HUMMES Oct-31-2006 (790 words) xxxi
Pope names Brazilian cardinal as new prefect of clergy congregation
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has named Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Sao Paulo, a Franciscan, to be the new prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.
The 72-year-old Brazil-born son of German immigrants, Cardinal Hummes will succeed Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, according to an Oct. 31 Vatican announcement.
Although Cardinal Castrillon is retiring at the age of 77 from the clergy congregation, he continues to serve as president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," which ensures pastoral care to former followers of traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated in 1988 after ordaining bishops without papal approval.
The Congregation for Clergy, in addition to promoting initiatives for the ongoing spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of diocesan priests and permanent deacons, also is responsible for the promotion of religious education through Catholic parishes.
Cardinal Hummes, who speaks five languages, is known as a champion of human dignity, not only supporting and initiating concrete projects to help the poor, but also defending the traditional family, fighting abortion and citing the need for solid ethical norms in response to advances in biomedical technology.
The cardinal earned a reputation as a peacemaker after mediating a bitter labor dispute in Brazil, but also by the way he welcomed new Catholic movements into the church without pushing aside older groups, and through his work to promote Christian unity and better relations with the Jews.
Cardinal Hummes is a member of the Vatican congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, Divine Worship and the Sacraments and for Bishops. He was invited by Pope John Paul II in 2002 to preach his annual Lenten retreats.
Shortly before Pope John Paul died in April 2005, Cardinal Hummes was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Vatican's commemoration of the Second Vatican Council document "Gaudium et Spes," the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. The key text explains the church's commitment to justice and to bringing Gospel values to bear on economic, social and political life.
The cardinal told the conference that while the Catholic Church is called to promote unity, progress and dialogue, "a servant church must have as its priority solidarity with the poor."
In addition, he said, in order to serve the world and show it the path to salvation, the church must be in dialogue with the world, with politicians and economists, with members of other religions and with scientists.
The church must "know how to listen, debate, discern and assimilate all that is good and true, just and humanly worthy" in others' ideas, as well as how to share with them the fullness of truth found in the Gospel, Cardinal Hummes said.
"However, this always must be a dialogue and not the imposition of the church's convictions and methods," he said. The church must "propose and not impose, serve and not dominate."
The call to follow Christ, to participate in the life of the church and to feed the poor are recurring themes in the weekly column Cardinal Hummes writes for his archdiocesan newspaper and Web site. He also posts his personal e-mail address on the site.
Contact with the world and the importance of dialogue also was a theme in Cardinal Hummes' retreat talks to Pope John Paul and the curia in 2002.
"The church knows it must dialogue, it must listen to all cultures, schools of thought and religions," he told reporters immediately after the retreat. At the same time, "the church knows it must be a point of reference, a firm point" in a world that many experience as changing so quickly that nothing is certain anymore.
Claudio Hummes was born in Montenegro, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Aug. 8, 1934, and was ordained a Franciscan priest Aug. 3, 1958. After serving as superior of the Franciscan province of Rio Grande do Sul and president of the Latin American Franciscan Council, he was appointed coadjutor bishop of Santo Andre in 1975 and became head of the diocese later that year.
In the blue-collar diocese, where Volkswagen and Ford had their largest Latin American plants, Cardinal Hummes gained pastoral experience among laborers and on several occasions played the role of mediator between the companies and their unions.
In the late 1970s, he opened the doors of churches as a refuge for those hunted by the military regime.
In 1996, he was appointed archbishop of Fortaleza, and in 1998 Pope John Paul transferred him to Sao Paulo, a diocese with more than 5 million Catholics.
Pope John Paul named him to the College of Cardinals in 2001.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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