Laotian cardinal retires at 80
December 24, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, IVD, from the pastoral care of the Apostolic Vicariate of Vientiane, the nation’s capital, and named Father Anthony Adoun Hongsaphong, a seminary professor who ministers at 11 mission stations, as his successor.
The cardinal, the cousin of a beatified martyr, had offered his resignation to the Pope in April 2019, when he turned 75. The prelate turned 80 in April and thus lost his right to vote in a papal election—yet the Pope declined to accept his resignation for another eight months.
In doing so, the Pope followed the example of his delay in accepting the resignation of Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap, as archbishop of Boston. Cardinal O’Malley turned 80 in June, but the Pope did not accept his resignation until August.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, who turns 80 on December 24, is the oldest cardinal who currently governs a Latin-rite diocese. The Pontiff typically accepts the resignations of cardinals who govern dioceses by the time they turn 77; other current exceptions are Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP, of Vienna (79), Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster (79), and Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona (78).
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