Cardinal John Patrick Foley, who led communications for the Vatican and shaped media policy and PR responses through three decades, died Dec. 11 at a retirement home for priests in Philadelphia. He was 76 and suffered from leukemia.
Foley |
Foley, a Pennsylvania native with a graduate degree from Columbia Journalism School, was president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications during 23 years as a key spokesman for the Catholic Church. He handled the English-speaking press for Pope John Paul’s first trip to the U.S. in 1979 and edited the Philadelphia archdiocese’s newspaper until his appointment as an archbishop and transfer to the Vatican PR post in 1984.
In a Dec. 12 statement, Pope Benedict XVI commended Foley for his service to the church in Philadelphia, the Vatican, and later in a church post helping Catholics in the Holy Land.
“I also pray that his lifelong commitment to the church’s presence in the media will inspire others to take up this apostolate so essential to the proclamation of the gospel and the progress of the new evangelization,” said the pope.
As would be expected with any church spokesman, his statements sometimes drew controversy or criticism. He denounced Israel’s construction of a wall separating Jerusalem and Bethlehem in 2009, once suggested AIDS was a “sanction” against homosexuality, and helped navigate the church through sexual abuse scandals of the past decade, casting abuse by priests in a wider scope as the “tip of the iceberg” of abuse against children worldwide.
He told Catholic News Service the church had the exercise virtue and, in its absence, candor: “We have to be honest. We cannot deny what happened.”
When the church’s cardinals assembled in 2005 to select a new pope, Foley told reporters, “Frankly, anyone who wants to be pope is out of his mind. It’s a living martyrdom.”
The Philadephia Archdiocese said Foley helped secure the .va domain for the Vatican, which was originally part of Italy’s .it, and played a key role in the Vatican’s widely discussed 1995 list applauding 45 motion pictures like “Schindler’s List” and “The Wizard of Oz.” The social communications council also released guidelines for ethical standards in advertising, communications and the Internet during his oversight.
Foley retired in February from the Vatican’s Middle East post and returned to Philadelphia.
Archbishop Claudio Celli of Italy succeeded Foley in the top Vatican communications post with the election of Benedict in 2005.