News!!!!!!!!!!
Cardinal O'Connor Meets With Pope
VATICAN CITY, Feb 10, 2000 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Cardinal John
O'Connor met Thursday with Pope John Paul II -- the highlight of a
farewell visit to the Vatican as New York archbishop.
O'Connor, who turned 80 last month, is preparing to retire.
The Vatican has given no indication of when John Paul will name a
replacement. It merely reported the two men met, with no details of
what they discussed.
''It was a personal and private meeting,'' the cardinal's spokesman,
Joe Zwilling, said by telephone from his New York office. As to when a
successor will be appointed, Zwilling said the archdiocese was ''just
waiting for word from Rome.''
In a brief video released by Vatican television, the cardinal could be
heard thanking John Paul as he bent to kiss the pontiff's ring.
The cardinal's secretary described the visit to Rome as a personal trip
''to say thanks and goodbye'' to the pope and other Vatican officials.
O'Connor has led the New York archdiocese's 2.4 million Roman Catholics
since 1984, and is the oldest practicing bishop in the United States.
Many speculated that the pope would replace O'Connor soon after his
Jan. 15 birthday because cardinals lose their power to vote for a new
pope when they turn 80.
O'Connor already has served five years past the normal retirement age
of 75 for bishops. He has been in frail health since undergoing brain
surgery in August.
Zwilling said the cardinal will return to New York Friday.
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