VATICAN CITY — Angolan Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, the world’s oldest cardinal, died Sept. 28 at the age of 99 and was praised by Pope Francis for the way he led his flock during “troubled and difficult times.”
The future cardinal was appointed bishop of Malanje, Angola, in 1975 — the year his country claimed its independence from Portugal, but also the year the long Angolan Civil War began. The war devasted the country from 1975 to 2002 with only three brief and uncertain periods of peace to interrupt the fighting.
During a pastoral visit in October 1982, then-Bishop do Nascimento was kidnapped by armed guerrillas. St. John Paul II appealed for his release during an Angelus address at the Vatican, and the bishop was freed after a month in captivity.
In a telegram of condolence, Pope Francis said the cardinal had been “for all an expression of the merciful face of Jesus, the good Samaritan of humanity.”
“Faith in Christ and hope in eternal life made him a courageous and free man, capable of directing his steps for the common good,” the pope said. And the cardinal’s love for the poor and needy led to his serving as president of Caritas Internationalis, the global network of Catholic charities, from 1983 to 1991.
“For all that the Lord accomplished in him and through him, I give thanks to God, imploring him to envelop this faithful servant of his with the light of mercy and to open to him the doors of life in its fullness,” Pope Francis wrote in the telegram.
Born in Malanje March 1, 1925, he studied at seminaries in Angola and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1952. After two years as bishop of Malanje, St. Paul VI named him archbishop of Lubango.
His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 235 members, 122 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave.
