Angelo Felici

Angelo Felici J.C.D. (July 26, 1919 in Segni, province of Frosinone - June 17, 2007 in Rome) was an Italian Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church and President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Before this role he served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 1988 to 1995.
==Early life==
He was ordained on 4 April 1942 and spent the next three years studying for his doctorate in canon law. In 1945 he joined the Vatican Secretariat of State where he worked until 1949. He was a faculty member at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, until he was appointed under-secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in 1964.
==Episcopate==
Pope Paul sent him on a mission to Jerusalem after the Six-Day War between Arabs and Israelis. Pope Paul VI appointed him as titular archbishop of Cesariana and appointed pro-nuncio to Holland on 22 July 1967. He was consecrated as a bishop in September of the same year. He was transferred to Portugal in 1976 and finally to France in 1979.
==Cardinalate== 
He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari in the consistory of 28 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II. In 1988, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, where he served until 1995. Then he was appointed President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. As Cardinal Deacons are permitted to do after ten years, he opted for the order of cardinal priests and his titular church was elevated pro hac vice to the rank of title on 9 January 1999. He lost the right to participate in a conclave when he turned 80 years of age in 1999. 
==Death==
On June 18, 2007, the daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office reported Cardinal Felici's death on the previous day, and the condolences of Pope Benedict XVI.
On June 19, 2007, the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided at Cardinal Felici's funeral Mass at the Altar of the Cathedra in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
==External links==
*Giga-Catholic profile
Category:Italian cardinals
Category:Italian Roman Catholics
Category:Diplomats of the Holy See
Category:People from the Province of Frosinone
Category:1919 births
Category:2007 deaths
Category:Alumni of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy
Category:Alumni of the Pontifical Gregorian University
Category:Members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Category:Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei
Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
de:Angelo Felici
fr:Angelo Felici
it:Angelo Felici
la:Angelus Felici
nl:Angelo Felici
no:Angelo Felici
pl:Angelo Felici
pt:Angelo Felici
ru:Феличи, Анджело