TELEGRAMS: DEATHS OF CARDINAL ODDI AND PATRIARCH MAXIMOS V HAKIM

VATICAN CITY, JUN 30, 2001 (VIS) - John Paul II sent a telegram to Bishop Luciano Monari of Piacenza-Bobbio, Italy, for the death yesterday at the age of 90 of Cardinal Silvio Oddi, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy. The Holy Father sent another telegram to His Beatitude Gregoire III Laham, patriarch of the Greek-Melkites, Damascus, Syria, for the death yesterday at the age of 93 of His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim, patriarch emeritus of the same patriarchate.

In the telegram to Bishop Monari, the Pope recalls "with a grateful spirit, the invaluable collaboration that (Cardinal Oddi) gave to the Holy See during so many decades in the service of five Popes; as apostolic nuncio in various countries and then as prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy."

In the second telegram, the Holy Father affirms that Patriarch Maximos V Hakim always strove to "promote unity among all the faithful, in the Middle East and in the diaspora, in the service of communion within the Church and in order to announce the Gospel to the world."

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