Cardinal Francis George, former head of U.S. Catholic bishops, dies at 78

Cardinal Francis George, former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died April 17 at age 78, after years of living with cancer. He was the first man to retire rather than die as archbishop of Chicago.

George, a Chicago native, became archbishop in 1997. He was seen by some as an antidote to the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who advocated a common ground Catholicism. In many ways, he served as a point man for Pope John Paul II, who was by then ailing, and for John Paul’s doctrinal watchdog and theological adviser, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would be elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Longtime Vatican expert John Allen called George the “American Ratzinger.”

“George’s clear and strongly stated positions on issues such as abortion, contraception, and the Catholic liturgy could be either celebrated or reviled—and he drew both reactions, repeatedly—but they could never be ignored,” Allen wrote.