Cardinal
Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 79, archbishop emeritus of Valencia and a
prominent figure in the Spanish Catholic Church, died Saturday at 7 p.m.
Already
in May, he had been too ill to travel to Rome for the conclave. Last
Thursday, the Archdiocese of Valencia said he was hospitalized in a
“delicate state of health.”
Born in Valencia in 1945, Antonio
Cañizares Llovera was ordained as a priest in 1970 and then worked as a
theology professor. He was appointed Bishop of Ávila in 1992, became
Archbishop of Granada in 1996 and of Toledo in 2002.
Pope Benedict XVI created him a cardinal in 2006.
From
2008 to 2014, he was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship,
and from 2014 to 2022 he led the Archdiocese of Valencia.
Viral Photos with Capa Magna
Cardinal Cañizares has been dubbed the 'little Ratzinger' due to his physical and theological similarities.
Viral photos exist of him wearing the capa magna at an ordination with the Institute of Christ the King in 2007 (below).
In October 2015, Cardinal Cañizares questioned the arrival of migrants, suggesting that they could be 'the Trojan horse of European societies'. The subsequent media backlash led him to apologise.
In 2016, he criticised a 'gay empire' and 'certain feminist ideologies' that attack the 'Christian family'. He also called for disobedience to 'unjust' laws based on 'gender ideology' that he described as 'insidious and destructive of humanity'. He faced legal complaints but the case was swiftly dismissed by Spanish courts.
In May 2020, during Spain’s strict Covid lockdown measures, he opened Valencia’s Basilica for the Feast of Our Lady of the Forsaken, prompting a police intervention and a public dispute over whether the rules had been broken.
Although Cardinal Cañizares was supportive of the Roman Rite as Prefect of the Liturgy, he suspended this liturgy in Valencia after Traditionis custodes (2021). Francis retired him in October 2022.
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