Darío Castrillón Hoyos

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Styles of Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Bucaramanga (Emeritus)

Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos (born July 4, 1929) is a Colombian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1996 to 2006, and currently serves as President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Elevated to the cardinalate in 1998.

[edit] Early life

Born in Medellín, Darío Castrillón Hoyos attended the seminaries in Antioquia and Santa Rosa de Osos before going to Rome to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Alfonso Carinci on October 26, 1952, in the basilica of Ss. XII Apostoli. He finished his studies at the Gregorian, from where he obtained a doctorate in canon law and specialization in religious sociology, political economics, and ethical economics. Castrillón also studied at the Sociological Faculty of the University of Louvain in Belgium.

Upon returning to Colombia, he served as a curate for two rural parishes in Yarumal from 1954 to 1971. He then served as director of Cursillos, of the national pastoral program, and of the Legion of Mary. After becoming an official in the diocesan curia of Santa Rosa de Osos, Castrillón was made director of radiophonic schools. In 1959 he became the diocesan delegate of Catholic Action, and also worked as ecclesiastical assistant to the Catholic Workers Youth. He did catechetical and curial work before serving as General Secretary of the Colombian Episcopal Conference.

[edit] Bishop

On June 2, 1971, Castrillón Hoyos was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Pereira and Titular Bishop of Villa Regis by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following July 18 from Archbishop Angelo Palmas, with Archbishop Aníbal Muñoz Duque and Bishop Baltasar Alvarez Restrepo serving as co-consecrators. Castrillón succeeded Alvarez Restrepo as Bishop of Pereira on July 1, 1976.

During his time as Bishop of Pereira, Castrillón Hoyos was reported to have walked the streets at night to help feed abandoned children.^[1] While many Latin American bishops refused to accept contributions from suspected drug lords, Castrillón Hoyos accepted donations for his diocese's charities, arguing that by accepting the funds, they would be diverted from funding crime and instead used to help the poor and needy. He said that when accepting such donations, he had warned the donors personally that their donations "would not save their souls".^[2] Castrillón Hoyos once disguised himself as a milkman to gain access to the home of drug lord Pablo Escobar, and after revealing himself, the bishop successfully persuaded Escobar to confess his sins.^[3][4] Castrillón Hoyos also served as Secretary General (1983-1987) and then President (1987-1991) of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, where he took a hard line stance opposing liberation theology, which was popular among leftist Latin American bishops at that time.

Castrillón Hoyos was advanced to Archbishop of Bucaramanga on December 16, 1992. He remained in that post until June 15, 1996, when he became Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in the Roman Curia. In this capacity, he was responsible for the celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's priestly ordination that November.

[edit] Cardinal

Coat of arms of Castrillón Hoyos, as depicted on the facade of "SS. Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano".

John Paul II created him Cardinal Deacon of SS. Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano in the consistory of February 21, 1998. Two days later, on February 23, Castrillón was promoted to full Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy. On October 26 of that same year he served as papal envoy to the signing of the peace accord between Peru and Ecuador to settle their border dispute. During his tenure as Prefect, he expressed his dissaproval of the zero-tolerance policy of the American bishops towards paedophile priests, saying that the bishops ignored such "fundamental principles of the Church" as forgiveness and conversion^[5]. On April 14, 2000, he replaced Angelo Cardinal Felici as President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the Curial office that handles the Vatican's relations with Traditionalist groups such as the Society of St. Pius X.

Upon the death of John Paul II on April 2, 2005, Castrillón Hoyos and all major Vatican officials, in accord with custom, automatically lost their positions during the sede vacante. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected John Paul's successor Pope Benedict XVI, and was himself considered papabile—a possible successor to the papacy. Pope Benedict later confirmed him as Prefect of Clergy and President of Ecclesia Dei on the following April 21. Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos remains eligible to vote in any future papal conclaves that begin before his 80th birthday in 2009.

On October 31, 2006, the Cardinal resigned as head of the Congregation for the Clergy, but remained as President of Ecclesia Dei. He became Protodeacon, or the senior Cardinal Deacon, on February 23, 2007, and later participated in the May 2007 general conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, also attended by Pope Benedict, in Brazil. On June 27, 2007, Castrillón, along with several other prelates, attended a briefing at the Apostolic Palace on Pope Benedict's impending motu proprio granting greater freedom to the Tridentine Mass.^[6] On March 1, 2008 Hoyos was elevated to Cardinal-Priest. His titular deaconry SS. Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano was elevated pro hac vice to title. Hoyos' successor as Cardinal protodeacon is Agostino Cacciavillan.

[edit] Interview over the implementation of Summorum Pontificum

On 13 September 2007 Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos was interviewed by Vatican Radio about the implmation of Pope Benedict's motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum which was due to come into force the next day. In the interview the cardinal was asking the following:

• Q: What has changed, really, with this motu proprio?

• • Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos: With this "motu proprio," in reality, there has not been a big change. The important thing is that in this moment, priests can decide, without permission from the Holy See or the bishop, to celebrate the Mass in the ancient rite. And this holds true for all priests. It is the parish priests who must open the doors to those priests that, having the faculty, go to celebrate. It is not therefore necessary to ask any other permission.

• Q: Your Eminence, this document was accompanied by fear and polemics. What is not true about what has been said or read?

• • Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos: It is not true, for example, that power was taken away from bishops over the liturgy, because the Code of Canon Law says who must give permission to say Mass and it is not the bishop: The bishop gives the "celebret," the power to be able to celebrate, but when a priest has this power, it is the parish priest and the chaplain who must grant the altar to celebrate.

If anyone impedes him, it is up to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, in the name of the Holy Father, to take measures until this right -- which is a right that is clear to the faithful by now -- is respected.

• Q: On the vigil of the "motu proprio" taking effect, what are your hopes?

• • Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos: My hopes are these: The Eucharist is the greatest thing we have, it is the greatest manifestation of love, of God’s redemptive love who wants to stay with us with this Eucharistic presence. This must never be a motive for discord but only love.

I hope that this can be a reason for joy for all those who love tradition, a reason for joy for all those parishes that will no longer be divided, but will have -- on the contrary -- a multiplicity of holiness with a rite that was certainly a factor and instrument of sanctification for more than a thousand years.

We thank, therefore, the Holy Father who recovered this treasure for the Church. Nothing is imposed on anyone, the Pope does not impose the obligation; the Pope does impose offering this possibility where the faithful request it.

If there is a conflict, because humanly speaking two groups can enter into conflict, the authority of the bishop -- as written in the "motu proprio" -- must intervene to avoid it, but without canceling the right that the Pope gave to the entire Church. [1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Allen, John L, Jr. "These Paths Lead to Rome". National Catholic Reporter. 2 Jun 2000.
2. ^ Allen, John L, Jr. "These Paths Lead to Rome". National Catholic Reporter. 2 Jun 2000.
3. ^ TIME Magazine. The Men Who Might Be Pope April 3, 2005
4. ^ Allen, John L, Jr. "These Paths Lead to Rome". National Catholic Reporter. 2 Jun 2000.
5. ^ TIME Magazine. When Zero Isn't Enough October 28, 2002
6. ^ Cardinal Seán’s Blog. Attending Meetings in Rome June 29, 2007

[edit] External links

• Biography at catholic-pages.com
• Biography at catholic-hierarchy.org