Rosalio José Castillo Lara

Rosalio José Castillo Lara JCD (September 4, 1922 – October 16, 2007) was a Venezuelan Roman Catholic cardinal.
==Early life and ordination==
Castillo Lara was born in San Casimiro, diocese of Maracay, in Venezuela's Aragua State, on September 4, 1922. Third son of seven children, he was ordained a priest on September 4, 1949, by his uncle, Archbishop Castillo Hernandez of Caracas. 
==Canon law==
In 1950 he went to Italy to study canon law at the Salesian University in Turin. In September 1954, he was named professor at the faculty of canon law, at first in Turin until 1957, then in Rome until 1965. He became Secretary and then President of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, the result of whose work was published in 1983. 
==Bishop==
He was elected Bishop of Precausa on March 26, 1973, and promoted to Archbishop on May 26, 1982. Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal during the Consistory of May 25, 1985, and two days later appointed him President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. 
==Roman Curia==
He became President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See on December 6, 1989, a post to which he added on October 31, 1990, that of President of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. He was also a member of several other bodies, including the Cardinals' Supervisory Commission for the Institute for Religious Works, commonly known as the Vatican Bank. 
==Views==
===Relations with Hugo Chavez's government=== 
Castillo Lara was one of the Venezuelan ecclesiastic figures most opposed to the government of Hugo Chávez. In 2006, during a Holy Mass, the cardinal made a homily asking to pray “with fervour to the Virgin Mary to save Venezuela. We are living a very grave situation, like a few times in our history”. Castillo Lara repeatedly accused Chávez of becoming increasingly authoritarian. At one point, he even recommended an exorcism for the socialist president while Chávez once called Castillo Lara "a hypocrite, bandit and devil with a cassock."BBC NEWS | Americas | Chavez reforms go to parliament
==References==
==External links==
* Obituary in The Times, 26 October 2007
Category:1922 births
Category:2007 deaths
Category:People from Maracay
Category:Venezuelan cardinals
Category:Venezuelan Roman Catholics
Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops
Category:21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops
Category:Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
Category:Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
de:Rosalio José Castillo Lara
es:Rosalio José Castillo Lara
fr:Rosalío José Castillo Lara
it:Rosalio José Castillo Lara
no:Rosalio José Castillo Lara
pl:Rosalio José Castillo Lara
pt:Rosalio José Castillo Lara
ru:Кастильо Лара, Росалио Хосе