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By Pope

Pope Francis has expressed his sadness upon learning of the death of Cardinal Tom Williams, Archbishop Emeritus of Wellington, who passed away on 22 December. He was 93 years old.

A well-known and very much-loved figure in the New Zealand Catholic community, Cardinal Williams was ordained as Archbishop of Wellington in 1979, where he served until 2005, and was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on 2 February 1983.

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 Conclave that elected late Pope Benedict XVI.  In 2000 he was appointed as a member of the prestigious Order of New Zealand.

Immense gratitude for Cardinal Williams contribution to Church in Oceania

In a telegram addressed to Archbishop Paul Martin of  Wellington, Pope Francis recalled with  “immense gratitude” his "contribution to the Church throughout Oceania” and imparted to all who are mourning him his  blessing “as a pledge of consolation and peace in the Risen Lord.”

A 'dedicated servant' of the Church

Cardinal Williams was born in Wellington, in 1930, and first worked as an accountant before studying for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest in 1959 and subsequently obtained a degree in Social Sciences from the University College of Dublin, Ireland. Before serving as Archbishop of Wellington, he worked as parish priest at multiple churches in the Wellington region and Samoa.

In a homily in 2019 marking his 40th anniversary as a bishop and his 50th as a priest he expressed gratitude to his parents, “who made huge sacrifices in nurturing my faith”. Also in 2019, Cardinal Williams said that when ordaining priests he had always emphasised that the priesthood had nothing to do with power, but was about sacrifice and service.

In an interview that year to NZ Catholic, he said  the degree to which New Zealand had become very, very secular quite alarming adding, however, that he was “very grateful to God that that the Catholic Church, which has now become the largest minority in New Zealand, has not declined to the same extent.”