St. Louis, Mo., Sep 8, 2022 / 10:03 am
Updated Sept. 8 at 2:07 pm EST.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England, offered prayers for and paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who died Sept. 8 while under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with multiple family members by her side. She was 96.
“On 21 April 1947, on her twenty-first birthday, Princess Elizabeth said, ‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.’ Now, seventy-five years later, we are heartbroken in our loss at her death, and so full of admiration for the unfailing way in which she fulfilled that declaration,” Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said in a statement.
“Even in my sorrow, shared with so many around the world, I am filled with an immense sense of gratitude for the gift to the world that has been the life of Queen Elizabeth II.”