Rosalio José Castillo Lara (4 September 1922 – 16 October 2007) was a Venezuelan prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He worked in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

for almost all of his career, first with responsibility for rewriting the code of canon law and then in administrative positions in the government of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. He was made a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 1985.

Biography

Castillo Lara was born in San Casimiro, diocese of

Maracay Maracay () is a city in north-central Venezuela, near the Caribbean coast, and is the capital and most important city of the state of Aragua. Most of it falls under the jurisdiction of Girardot Municipality. The population of Maracay and its ...

, in Venezuela's

Aragua State Aragua State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains, jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular beaches are Cata and Choroni. It has Venezuela's first national par ...

, on 4 September 1922. Third son of seven children, he was ordained a priest on 4 September 1949, by his uncle,

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Castillo Hernandez of

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. In 1950 he went to study

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

at the

Salesian Pontifical University The Salesian Pontifical University (; ) is a pontifical university in Italy run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It has three campuses, one in Rome, one in Turin, and one in Jerusalem. The Salesian Pontifical University is an ordinary member of ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. In September 1954, he was named professor at the faculty of canon law, at first in Turin until 1957, then in Rome until 1965. He was named titular bishop of Precausa and Coadjutor Bishop of Trujillo on 26 March 1973. He became Secretary of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law on 20 February 1975. In 1982 he was named President of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, which produced the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of Ecclesiastical Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

. He was promoted to archbishop on 26 May 1982. He was named Pro-President of the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law on 18 January 1984.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

made him a cardinal during the

Consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of 25 May 1985, and two days later appointed him the first President of the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law, later known as the

Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts The Dicastery for Legislative Texts, formerly named Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, is a dicastery of the Roman Curia. It is distinct from the highest tribunal or court in the Church, which is the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Sign ...

. He became President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See on 6 December 1989, a post to which he added on 31 October 1990 that of President of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. He was also a member of several other bodies, including the Cardinals' Supervisory Commission for the Institute for Religious Works, commonly known as the Vatican Bank. In 1996, he dismissed concerns about the health of Pope John Paul II, who was suffering from Parkinson's disease. He said: "Certainly the tremor in the hand is terrible, and I think that for the Pope, who was once such an athlete, it is a humiliating and mortifying phenomenon. But it helps to maintain a spirit of humility, and still, he is lucid, with a remarkable memory."

Relations with the Chávez government

Castillo Lara was one of the Venezuelan ecclesiastic figures most opposed to the government of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

. In a 2006 homily, he asked for prayers "with fervour to the Virgin Mary to save Venezuela. We are living a very grave situation, like a few times in our history". Castillo once called Chávez "a paranoid dictator", while Chavez called Castillo "a hypocrite, bandit and devil with a cassock."

References

External links

*
Obituary in ''The Times'', 26 October 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo Lara, Rosalio Jose 1922 births 2007 deaths Presidents of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State Venezuelan cardinals 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Dicastery for Legislative Texts Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Salesian Pontifical University alumni People from Maracay Salesian cardinals Venezuelan expatriates in Italy