Godfried Danneels

Godfried Cardinal Danneels (2007)

Godfried Danneels

Cardinal coat of arms

Godfried Maria Jules Cardinal Danneels (born June 4, 1933 in Kanegem, today a district of Tielt , Belgium , † March 14, 2019 in Mechelen ) was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Godfried Danneels studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven and studied neo-scholasticism from 1951 to 1954 . As an alumna of the Pontifical Belgian College , he studied Catholic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1954 to 1959 . On August 17, 1957, he received the sacrament of ordination in Bruges from Emil-Jozef De Smedt , Bishop of Bruges . In 1959 he became spiritual at the seminary of Bruges and taught liturgy and spirituality. From 1969 to 1977 he worked as a theology professor at the Catholic University of Leuven.

On November 4, 1977 Pope Paul VI appointed him . to the bishop of Antwerp . He received the episcopal ordination by the then Archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels, Léon-Joseph Cardinal Suenens , on December 18, 1977. His motto was: Apparuit humanitas Dei nostri .

Two years later, on December 19, 1979, Pope John Paul II made him head of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels and accepted him on February 2, 1983 as a cardinal priest with the titular church of Sant'Anastasia in the college of cardinals .

From 1980 to 2000 Daneels was chairman of the Belgian Bishops' Conference and since September 15, 1980 also military bishop for Belgium. From 1990 to 1999 he was president of the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi Internationalis.

Danneels and his auxiliary bishop Paul Lanneau were charged in a court case that he had violated his duty to oversee a priest in his diocese who had been sentenced to six years in prison for dozen child molestations. In the first instance, Danneels and Lanneau were each fined the equivalent of around 12,500 euros. In October 1998 an appeals court acquitted Danneels of the charge of civil responsibility on the grounds that there was no relationship of dependency between a bishop and a pastor that could justify a conviction.

Godfried Danneels was a participant in the 2005 conclave , in which Benedict XVI. was chosen. As early as the mid-1990s , he was often regarded as one of the youngest papabili . On January 18, 2010, Benedict XVI. Danneels' resignation from the office of Archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels, submitted for reasons of age. As one of the oldest cardinals entitled to vote, he also took part in the 2013 conclave . On February 27 of the same year, he also resigned as military bishop.

Danneels had a penchant for art and was considered an intellectual.

Memberships in the Roman Curia

Web links

Commons : Godfried Danneels - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Godfried Danneels in the catalog of the German National Library
Entry on Godfried Danneels on catholic-hierarchy.org
cardinalrating.com:… what the cardinals believe…: Godfried Cardinal Danneels texts and press reports about statements by Danneels
Godfried Danneels - on the death of a papermaker. Obituary for the builder of the paradigm shift

Individual evidence

↑ Christoph Lennert: "Black Day for the Church in Belgium". Belgian bishop admits sexual abuse and resigns. Domradio, April 23, 2010, accessed February 15, 2016 .
↑ Katja Berens, Ingrid Thurner, Christian Weisner: The rooster crowed for (more than) seven years. Concealment - covering up - denying - procrastinating sexual violence in the Roman Catholic Church. (PDF, 275 kB) In: Documentation of the Churches People Movement We are the Church for dealing with sexual abuse. October 31, 2002, archived from the original on September 21, 2009 ; accessed on September 8, 2019 .
^ Giancarlo Zizola : The successor , Patmos-Verlag 1997, p. 115
^ Rinuncia dell'Arcivescovo di Malines-Bruxelles (Belgio) e nomina di successore. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , January 18, 2010, accessed February 15, 2016 (Italian).

predecessor	Office	successor
Jules-Victor Daem (nl)	Bishop of Antwerp 1977–1979	Paul Van den Berghe
Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens	Archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels 1979–2010	André-Joseph Léonard
-	Grand Prior of the Belgian Lieutenancy of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem 1979–2010	André-Joseph Léonard
Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens	Belgian military bishop 1980–2010	André-Joseph Léonard

personal data
SURNAME	Danneels, Godfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Danneels, Godfried Maria Jules Cardinal (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Belgian clergyman, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH	June 4, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kanegem , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH	March 14, 2019
Place of death	Mechelen

[1] Christoph Lennert: "Black Day for the Church in Belgium". Belgian bishop admits sexual abuse and resigns. Domradio, April 23, 2010, accessed February 15, 2016 .

[2] Katja Berens, Ingrid Thurner, Christian Weisner: The rooster crowed for (more than) seven years. Concealment - covering up - denying - procrastinating sexual violence in the Roman Catholic Church. (PDF, 275 kB) In: Documentation of the Churches People Movement We are the Church for dealing with sexual abuse. October 31, 2002, archived from the original on September 21, 2009 ; accessed on September 8, 2019 .

[3] Giancarlo Zizola : The successor , Patmos-Verlag 1997, p. 115

[4] Rinuncia dell'Arcivescovo di Malines-Bruxelles (Belgio) e nomina di successore. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , January 18, 2010, accessed February 15, 2016 (Italian).