CARDINAL QUEZADA TORUNO WAS A GENEROUS SERVANT OF THE CHURCH

Vatican City, 5 June 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolence to Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales S.D.B. of Guatemala, Guatemala, for the death of Cardinal Rodolfo Ignacio Quezada Toruno, archbishop emeritus of that metropolitan see. Cardinal Quezada Toruno died yesterday at the age of 80.

In the telegram the Pope asks the Lord to grant His peace to a man who "served the Church with such intensity and generosity during his pastoral ministry, as guide of the diocese of Zacapa and prelate of Santo Cristo de Esquipulas, then as archbishop of the metropolitan see of Guatemala.

"With faith in the Paschal Mystery of Christ which illuminates moments of suffering and fills them with hope, and in recollection of a pastor committed to the mission of evangelisation", the Pope concludes, "I am pleased to impart my special apostolic blessing to those mourning such a touching loss".