Prefect Named for Eastern Churches Congregation

                                Archbishop Sandri Succeeds Cardinal Daoud

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 10, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI named Archbishop Leonardo Sandri as prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. He has been undersecretary of state for general affairs.

The Vatican press office announced today that Archbishop Sandri, 63, will succeed 76-year-old Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, who had presented his resignation after having reached the normal retirement age.

Archbishop Sandri gave the world the news of the death of Pope John Paul II on the evening of April 2, 2005, in St. Peter's Square. He normally read the texts that John Paul II could not read on account of his illness.

Leonardo Sandri was born in Buenos Aires on Nov. 18, 1943, into a family of Italian origin.

He was ordained a priest in 1967. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1974 and served in Madagascar, and from 1977 to 1989 with the Vatican secretariat of state.

From 1989 to 1991 he was an adviser in the office of the papal nuncio to the United States and the Organization of American States.

On Aug. 22, 1991, he was named prefect of the Pontifical Household. He was made the assessor for general affairs for the secretariat of state in 1992.

On July 22, 1997, he was named papal nuncio to Venezuela and ordained archbishop that same year.

On March 1, 2000, he was made papal nuncio to Mexico and on Sept. 16, 2000, he was named "sostituto" or undersecretary of state for general affairs.

In a declaration published by the Vatican press office, Archbishop Sandri affirmed: "I am aware that I have been entrusted with the great 'treasure' of liturgical prayer, the spiritual tradition, monastic life, the lives of many saints, and the teaching of the fathers and doctors of the Eastern Church.

"It is a 'treasure' that even today we hope is researched, revisited, delved into, and loved so that it can offer to the contemporary expectations of the universal Church and of the world of our time the wealth of the doctrine and spirituality of the Eastern tradition."

Archbishop Sandri greeted the Christians "who are suffering in the Holy Land, in Iraq, in Lebanon, and elsewhere from violence, from fear and uncertainty about the future; I think of those who have to leave their homeland and everything they have."

Archbishop Sandri will continue his work in the secretariat of state until July 1.