Senior Belgian cardinal dies

11 January 2004

BRUSSELS – Belgian cardinal Jan Pieter Schotte, a close ally to the Pope, has died at the age of 76.

The Vatican said he died on Monday at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

Schotte, from Bruges, became a cardinal in 1994 and had served as a secretary general of the synod of bishops ever since.

As a young man, he studied at Louvain University and Washington and became a priest in 1952.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news