Cardinal Francis George listens as the gospel is read after he blessed palms before Palm Sunday Mass at Holy Name Cathedral, April 13, 2014. | Jessica Koscielniak / Sun-Times
CHICAGO (Associated Press) -
Cardinal Francis George, a vigorous defender of Roman Catholic orthodoxy who led the U.S. bishops' fight against Obamacare and played a key role in the church's response to the clergy sex abuse scandal, has died. He was 78.
George, who retired as Chicago archbishop in the fall of 2014, died Friday morning after a long fight with cancer, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago. He announced in December 2014 that doctors had determined their treatment for the cancer found on his kidney had failed.
"A man of peace, tenacity and courage has been called home to the lord," Archbishop Blase Cupich, George's successor, said during a news conference Friday in Chicago.
Appointed to Chicago in 1997 by Pope John Paul II, George became a leading figure of his era in many of the most important events in the American church.
He oversaw the contentious new English-language translation of the Roman Missal, one of the biggest changes in Catholic worship in generations. In 2002, at the height of the abuse crisis, he led a group of U.S. bishops who persuaded resistant Vatican officials they should more quickly oust guilty priests - a policy at the core of reforms meant to restore trust in church leaders.
And in his three years as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, George spearheaded opposition to the Affordable Care Act, arguing President Barack Obama's health insurance plan would use taxpayer money for funding abortion. In 2012, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago joined dozens of dioceses and Catholic nonprofits in suing the Obama administration over the requirement that employers provide health insurance that covers contraception
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PRAY FOR HIS HOLY SOUL!!!
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