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| HE Cardinal Karl-Josef Rauber |
The former Apostolic Pro Nuncio to Uganda, Most Rev Karl-Josef Rauber, will be among the New Cardinals to be installed on 14 February 2015 at the Vatican, together with AMECEA Chairman, Most Rev Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel, and Archbishop of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In a press release issued on February 7, 2015 by the Apostolic Nunciature in Uganda, Pope Francis distinguished the five retired Archbishops and Bishops; nominated New Cardinals, for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church.
Archbishop Rauber, who served as the Papal representative to Uganda from 1982 to 1990, is among these five retired Archbishops and Bishops named by Pope Francis, who are over eighty-years old and thus cannot take part in a papal election.
“They represent many Bishops who, with the same pastoral solicitude, have given witness of love for Christ and for the People of God both in particular Churches, the Roman Curia and in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See,” the press release quoted the Pope.
Archbishop Rauber was born on April 11, 1934 in Nürnberg, Germany and was ordained a priest on February 28, 1959. Beginning in 1966 he served in the Holy See’s State Secretariat. In 1977 he was Nuntiaturrat in Belgium and Luxembourg and in 1981 held the same position in Greece.
On December 18, 1982, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Archbishop of Iubaltiana, Tunisia, and Pro-Nuncio to Uganda where he carried out his main duties of representing the Holy Father, visiting dioceses, promoting evangelization and defending the interests of the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II also consecrated him as bishop in 1983.
He was later assigned to Rome as President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the institution for the formation of Vatican diplomats. From 1993 he served successively as Apostolic Nuncio in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Hungary and Moldova, Belgium and Luxembourg until his retirement in 2009. Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation for reasons of age.
By Jacinta W Odongo, Media Officer, Uganda Episcopal Conference