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Eduardo Cardinal Martnez SomaloHis Eminence Eduardo Cardinal Martnez Somalo, Prefect emeritus of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and Camerlengo (Chamberlain) of the Holy Roman Church, has been one of the closest and immediate collaborators of the Pope John Paul II in his ministry as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church. Eduardo Martnez Somalo was born on 31 March 1927, in a small town of Baos de Rio Tobia, in the Spanish province of Rioja and diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logrono. After having attended the diocesan seminary, he was invited to Rome to continue his ecclesiastical studies at the Pontifical Spanish College and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, obtaining a licentiate in theology and in canon law. Ordained a priest on 19 March 1950, he carried out his pastoral ministry in his native diocese. He was then sent to Rome, once again, to attend courses at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and to prepare himself to serve as pontifical representative of the Holy See. Receiving on 18 August 1956 a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University with a thesis on the Spanish concordat of 1953 in the light of its first two articles, he entered the Secretariat of State. The following year he was promoted to secretary of the nunciature and nominated professor at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Being responsible for the Spanish section of the Secretariat of State, he accompanied Pope Montini to Colombia from 22-25 August 1968 on the occasion of the 39th Eucharistic International Congress. Two years later, 25 April 1970, he was nominated counsellor of the apostolic delegation to Great Britain. But his distance from Rome lasted only a few months. On 14 May 1970 he was nominated Prelate of Honour of the His Holiness, on 9 October that same year he was recalled to the Vatican as Assessor of the Secretariat of State and therefore direct collaborator of the then substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Giovanni Benelli. During this entire period Mons. Martnez Somalo, even with his commitments, carried out an intense pastoral ministry, dedicating himself in a particular way to the world of the suffering. On 12 November 1975, Paul VI elected him titular Archbishop of Tagora, at the same time nominating him Apostolic Nuncio in Colombia. Cardinal Jean Villot, the then Secretary of State, conferred episcopal ordination on 13 December of the same year, during a solemn Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. About four years as pontifical representative, John Paul II nominated him on 5 May 1979 Substitute of the Secretariat of State, a position which he held until he was made a Cardinal. Tireless in his faithful service to the See of Peter, Archbishop Martnez Somalo was always beside John Paul II during his numerous apostolic pilgrimages in Italy and in the world. Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of 28 June 1988, of the Title of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (deaconry raised pro hac vice to presbyteral title on 9 January 1999. He has authored numerous documents on religious life, his latest being "Verbi Sponsa" and the Congregation he heads has been dear to John Paul II's heart. At the age of 72, Cardinal Martinez Somalo enjoys active membership in numerous Curial offices including the second section of the Secretary of State, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments, both offices he once worked in, as well as the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for Clergy and the Congregation for Catholic Education. In addition he serves membership on the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts plus the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Pontifical Commission for the Institute for Works of Religion. He continues to reside in Vatican City with offices at Piazza Pio XII, 3 / 00193 Rome just outside the front of St. Peter's Square. For more on his Curial Congregation, we recommend The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which was first founded by Pope Sixtus V in 1586. As Camerlengo, Cardinal Martnez Somalo holds various duties, including convening the Conclave which will elect the next pope, during the Sede vacante which has followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Martnez Somalo, Eduardo Martnez Somalo, Eduardo Martnez Somalo, Eduardo
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