BERTOLI: PROFOUND LOVE FOR GOD AND SERVICE TO THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, NOV 10, 2001 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica, John Paul II presided over the funeral for Cardinal Paolo Bertoli, who died last Thursday in Rome at the age of 93. Concelebrating with the Pope were members of the College of Cardinals.

In his homily, the Pope recalled the many ecclesial services that the Cardinal carried out in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as in Latin America, the Middle East and in the organisms of the Holy See. He was also prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and camerlengo (chamberlain) of Holy Roman Church.

"The long ecclesial ministry of Cardinal Bertoli was constantly sustained by the strength of God's love, which found its most genuine and immediate expression in the witness of charity and in concrete gestures of solidarity towards his brethren, especially the poorest and most suffering."

The Holy Father emphasized that "During his entire life Cardinal Paolo Bertoli was supported by this great ideal: an intense and profound love towards God, a generous and faithful service to the Church, courageous and supportive action on behalf of his brethren."

"To the Church and the Pope he offered a precious service in the different tasks entrusted to him, always seeking to respond - as he himself recalls in his will - 'with the spirit of faith and fidelity', and with 'that simplicity so dear to me'."

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