VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Eugenio Cardinal Dal Corso, a longtime Italian missionary, died Oct. 20 – World Mission Sunday – at a home operated by his religious order, the Poor Servants of Divine Providence, near Verona, Italy. He was 85 years old.
After his retirement in 2018, and even after being made a cardinal in 2019, he chose to remain a missionary in Angola and work in Christian communities in the Diocese of Menongue. Only illness forced him to return to Italy.
Born in Lugo di Valpantena di Grezzana, Italy, in 1939, he was the second of six children and is said to have been given the name Eugenio to honor Pope Pius XII, whose papacy had just begun.
He decided to become a missionary while studying at the Don Calabria Institute in Verona, Italy. He made his first vows in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1963.
After further studies and pastoral work in Italy, he went to Argentina in 1975 and began his missionary work in the Diocese of Gregorio de Laferrere, where he helped to educate new priests.
After 11 years in the South American country, he was sent to Angola where he set up a seminary in the Diocese of Uije. In 1991, he was appointed provincial superior of his order in Angola. Ordained a bishop in 1996, he served in the Diocese of Saurimo until his 2008 appointment as bishop of Benguela.
His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 234 members, 121 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Pope Francis is scheduled to create 21 new cardinals Dec. 7.