Vatican City, Jul 17, 2020 / 06:00 am
Pope Francis offered his condolences after Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski died early Friday at the age of 80.
The cardinal had worked closely with popes St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI as the former prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education. The Polish bishops' conference announced the cardinal's death July 17.
"I remember with gratitude the honorable work carried out by him as a valued professor of canon law in the Pontifical Gregorian and Lateran Universities, also as an author of many academic publications," Pope Francis wrote in the telegram sent to the cardinal's brother Friday.
The pope said that Grocholewski's service and work in the Vatican had provided a "witness of priestly zeal, loyalty to the Gospel, and to building up the Church."