Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, Keynote Speaker at the 2015 Jubilee [translations pending]
The Archbishop of Tegucigalpa in Honduras and President of Caritas Internationalis, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga will be the keynote speaker of the IDC jubilee in Rome.
And then, those gathered for Mass in the Bonn Minster were really stunned. When Mass was ended the Honduran Cardinal Maradiaga went straight to the band, sat at the keyboard and played a samba. The Salesian not only studied piano and musical composition,but is also a psychotherapist and theologian. Following multiple studies in Honduras, Rome and Innsbruck, he was ordained a priest in Guatemala City in 1970. Eight years later, John Paul II designated him as Auxiliary Bishop.
Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga wa born in Tegucigalpa in 1942. The Honduran capital is, with its almost 900,000 inhabitants is also the centre of the “Archdiocese“of the same name :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Tegucigalpa. Cardinal Maradiaga has been the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa since 1993.
Along with English, Italian, French, Portuguese and his native Spanish, Cardinal Maradiaga also speaks Latin and Ancient Greek – but in whatever language he speaks he is a man of clear words. He constantly exposes the social injustice in the Latin American countries or lashes out at the rising prominence of the drug cartels. In 2001 he was created a cardinal and ever since then he was considered a possible candidate for the Papacy.
Cardinal Maradiaga has been the President of Caritas Internationalis. In 2011 he was reconfirmed in that position for another four years.
In 2013 Pope Francis named Rodriguez Maradiaga as one of the members of the Council of Cardinals, the group of eight who will aid the Pontif in his reform of the Curia.
Photo credits: all photos, Caritas Internationalis