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LITHUANIA
Lithuanian cardinal diesLived for years under house arrest
Cardinal Vicentas Sladkevicius, the retired archbishop of Kaunas, Lithuania, died on May 28 at the age of 79.
Born into a farming family of modest means, and ordained to the priesthood in 1944, Vicentas Sladkevicius was consecrated a bishop on Christmas Day in 1957—although the Communist government refused to recognize his status. He became apostolic administrator of the Kaisiadorys diocese in 1982, and in 1988 Pope John Paul II raised him to the College of Cardinals. In 1989 he became the Archbishop of Kaunas, retiring from that post in May 1996.
In a message of condolence to Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, the new head of the Kaunas archdiocese, Pope John Paul spoke of Cardinal Sladkevicius as “a heroic priest,” and a “very dear brother.” The Pope said: “Although he was impeded for years from exercising his episcopal mission, and forced to live under surveillance, he never was intimidated; he offered a shining example of unshakable confidence in divine providence and loyalty to the See of Peter.”