Passing of Italy’s Card. Ruini marks end of an era

Cardinal Camillo Ruini is dead at 95. A giant of the Church in Italy at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first, Ruini was, perhaps, the last truly great Italian churchman.

In a telegram expressing condolences on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV remembered Ruini as an “experienced and wise brother, characterized by deep faith, keen intelligence, and far-sighted vision, who served the Gospel and the Church with discretion and self-sacrifice.”

Leo especially recalled Ruini’s “fruitful work for the Italian bishops’ conference” of which he was president for nearly two decades, as well as Runi’s “productive dialogue with the world of culture.”

The pontiff expressed gratitude to heaven “for the gift of this esteemed man of the Church,” and promised prayers for his repose and for the consolation of his family and loved ones.

Ruini’s passing certainly marks the end of an era.

A native of Sassuolo in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region born in 1931, Ruini’s childhood and adolescence were marked by Fascism and World War II.

He never really thought of anything except Church service and was ordained on December 8, 1954, when he was just a few months shy of his 24th birthday.

At