Pope Benedict sent condolences to the people of the Middle East following the death of Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, who died on 7 April in a Rome hospital.
As CNS reports:
The 81-year-old cardinal was the retired prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and the former patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, led the Latin-rite funeral Mass April 10 in St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Daoud’s body was to be flown to Beirut for a Syriac-rite burial with the other patriarchs of Antioch.
In his homily, Cardinal Sodano said he had visited the ailing patriarch a few days before he died. He said Cardinal Daoud told him he was “offering to the Lord his suffering for the good of the holy church and above all for the unity of all Christians.”
In a condolence message to Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan of Antioch, Pope Benedict called the cardinal a “faithful pastor who devoted himself with faith and generosity to the service of the people of God.”
The pope also assured the patriarch that during “these days, when we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord,” he was offering special prayers “for the peoples of the region who are living through difficult times.”
Cardinal Daoud was born Basile Moussa Daoud in Meskene, Syria, Sept. 18, 1930, and had served as archbishop of Homs, one of the cities now being most deeply affected by violence as the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reacts to efforts to oust him.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1954, he earned a degree in canon law from Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University. He was elected bishop of Cairo in 1977 and archbishop of Homs in 1994.
The synod of the Syriac Catholic Church, one of the Eastern churches in communion with Rome, elected him patriarch of Antioch in 1998 and, following Syriac tradition, he took the name Ignace in honor of St. Ignatius of Antioch.
You can read more here.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.
To learn more about the Syriac Catholic Church, check out this profile from the March 2009 issue of ONE.