Benedict XVI Confirms Cardinal Bertone in His Position

The January 21 edition of Osservatore Romano has published a letter dated January 15 in which Benedict XVI confirms Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as Secretary of State of the Holy See; the cardinal had presented his resignation, in accordance with the norms of canon law, on December 2, 2009, the day of his 75th birthday.
In his letter, the Holy Father thanks the cardinal for the long course of their collaboration, begun when the future secretary of State became consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “I remember in particular your delicate work in establishing a dialogue with Monseigneur Marcel Lefebvre,” writes the pope, and then he goes on to recall that it was John Paul II who called the future cardinal to work in the Roman Curia, where he “carried out with competence and effectiveness the office of Secretary to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during these intense years in which documents of great doctrinal and disciplinary importance have been drawn up,” says His Holiness.
Then he says that what he has always admired in this first of his collaborators is his “sensus fidei” and his “humanitas”, as well as his doctrinal and canonical training, “which helped us to live together in a familiar atmosphere, despite a rigorous work schedule.” Benedict XVI concludes by reaffirming that it was these diverse qualities that justified his choice of Cardinal Bertone as Secretary of State in 2006, “reasons which have decided me today not to deprive myself of such a precious collaboration”.
(DICI n°209, Feb. 6, 2010 – Sources: VIS/Apic/Imedia)