Feb 14 - Lecture by Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga at SLU

Saint Louis University's Department of Theological Studies presents

11th Annual DeLubac Lecture
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
7:00 pm

Busch Student Center Multipurpose Room 170

Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga

"Challenges of Globalization for the Church in Latin America"

Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, is a Roman Catholic Cardinal and the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He was President of the Latin American Conference of Catholic Bishops (CELAM) from 1995 to 1999. Prior to the April 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, he was mentioned by some in the Press and Media as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 1942. As a boy, he had wide interests that included saxophone-playing and aviation. He entered the religious life and joined the Pious Society of St. Francis de Sales (Salesians of Don Bosco) in 1961. He taught at Salesian colleges in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, at the Salesian Theological Institue in Guatemala.

He was ordained a priest in 1970 in Guatemala City, and was named Auxiliary Bishop of Tegucigalpa in the same year. He was rector for three years at Guatemala's Francisco Marroquín University from 1975; he became Archibishop of Tegucigalpa in 1978, and in 2001 Pope John Paul II made him a Cardinal--the first from Honduras.

Cardinal Rodriguez's campaign for human rights and the poor have won widespread praise. In this connection, he served as the Vatican's spokesperson to the International Monetary Fund and the the World Bank on the topic of debt in the developing nations. During the G-8 meeting of major world leaders in 1999, Cardinal Rodriguez teamed up with rock star Bono to present a petition, signed by 17 million people, calling for debt relief—an effort that has subsequently borne fruit. He is the founder of of the Catholic University of Honduras and an ecumenist who has encouraged dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals in Latin America. He has brokered peace accords with rebels and led rebuilding efforts after natural disaster. He was honored by the Parliament of Central America with the Francisco Morazán Medral.