After a protracted illness, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the retired archbishop of So Paulo, Brazil, passed away on Monday.
The cardinal, who had a crucial part in the 2019 Amazon Synod, was approaching his 88th birthday in a little more than a month. According to Brazilian journalist Mirticeli Medeiros, he passed away from lung cancer.
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, the current archbishop of So Paulo, made the announcement of his passing on July 4. He stated that Hummes’ body would be present for prayers and mourning in the Metropolitan Cathedral of So Paulo.
Hummes, a member of the Order of Friars Minor, was president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) and the newly created Ecclesial Conference of Amazonia (CEAMA).
Hummes was selected by Pope Francis to serve as the relator general of the Synod on the Pan-Amazonian Region and a pre-synodal council member. Hummes was in charge of writing the synod’s final report in his capacity as relator general.
Following his election as a cardinal in 2001, Hummes served as prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy from 2006 until 2010.
He was well known for his social activity, which covered issues including poverty, climate change, and the defence of indigenous peoples.
A close friend of Pope Francis, after his election, Hummes reportedly embraced him and said, “don’t forget the poor.”
The cardinal was born on August 8, 1934, to a German-Brazilian father and a German mother in Montenegro, Brazil.
When he joined the Franciscans, he adopted the name Claudio. He was ordained a priest in 1958.
He taught philosophy in seminaries and a Catholic institution before to becoming a bishop. From 1972 to 1975, he served as president of the Union of Latin American Conferences of Franciscans and as the provincial superior of the Franciscans of Rio Grande do Sul.
Hummes completed his studies at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Geneva, Switzerland, and afterwards worked as the bishops’ conference of Brazil’s ecumenical affairs advisor.
He was named coadjutor bishop of Santo André in March 1975, and he replaced Jorge de Oliveira as bishop in December.
In 1996, he was named archbishop of Fortaleza, and in 1998, he was named archbishop of So Paulo.