The Cardinal Newman Society mourned this week the passing of Cardinal Pio Laghi who died on Sunday, January 11, at the age of 86. Cardinal Laghi was the first apostolic nuncio to the United States and served as prefect and pro-prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education at the Vatican from 1990 to 1999.

“Cardinal Laghi’s contributions to the Church were extraordinary and helped launch the worldwide renewal of Catholic higher education,” said Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “I pray that his vocation of service to the Church will become all the more valuable as his love is perfected in the Communion of Saints.”

As Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Laghi oversaw the promulgation and implementation of Pope John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae. The constitution called for Catholic colleges and universities to reclaim their Catholic identities and set forth principles and policies for their reform.

After Cardinal Laghi’s funeral this week, Pope Benedict XVI observed that “the entire priestly mission of Cardinal Pio Laghi was passed in the direct service of the Holy See.” The Holy Father remembered the “delicate missions” performed by Laghi “with faithful dedication to Christ and his Church.”

"At the moment in which we bid him farewell,” the Holy Father continued, “our hearts are moved by the firm hope which . . . 'is full of immortality', the same hope that illuminated the priestly and apostolic life of Cardinal Pio Laghi."