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Cardinal Andrea
Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Archpriest of the
Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls, is
an architect and was ordained a priest in 1954 for the
Diocese of Rome. In 1977 he was appointed Archbishop.
He
was sent as a member of the Holy See’s diplomatic
corps to all five continents.
He served as the Papal Nuncio in Papua New Guinea
and the Solomon Islands and later in
the Sandinistan Nicaragua and anti-Sandinistan
Honduras, where he was able to save several people
who had been kidnapped during those difficult times.
Thereafter he was
appointed Papal Nuncio to Uruguay, a country of
strong secular influence. Pope John
Paul II visited Uruguay twice during his term as
Papal Nuncio. In the capital city of Montevideo he had a large Cross erected
commemorating these Papal visits,
known as “the Nuncio’s Cross”.
From 1990 to 1998,
he served as the Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and
Palestine. He promoted the creation of the Assembly
of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land and he
was responsible for the signing of the Fundamental
Agreement, which normalized the official relations
between the Holy See and the State of Israel in
1993. And he became the first Apostolic Nuncio in
Israel. From 1998 to 2001 he held the position of
Papal Nuncio in Italy and San Marino, as well.
Afterwards the
Pope entrusted him with the task of
preparing a study for the reorganization of the
extraterritorial complex of Saint Paul
Outside-the-Walls. In 2005, he became the first
Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul
Outside-the-Walls.
On March 24, 2006, Pope
Benedict XVI named him a Cardinal.
Since then, with the collaboration of the
Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint Paul, he has been carrying out important
architectural works, restorations and general
rearrangements to better serve all the faithful and
pilgrims who come from various parts of the world to
visit the Basilica, especially for the upcoming
Pauline Year (28 June 2008 - 29 June 2009).
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