On 13 January 2017, Swiss Cardinal Gilberto Agustoni died in Rome at the age of 94.
Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, on July 26, 1922, a priest since 1946, he collaborated with Cardinal Ottaviani at the Congregation of the Holy Office starting in 1950, later working at the future Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
In 1970 Pope Paul VI appointed him Prelate Auditor of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota.
In 1986 John Paul II elected him titular Archbishop of Caorle and secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy. In this capacity he collaborated with the Pope in drafting the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis.
Having published the exhortation, on 2 April 1992 John Paul II promoted him Pro-Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. On November 9, 1994 he was appointed Prefect and on the following November 26 he was created Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, of the deaconry – then elevated pro hac vice to presbyteral title – of Saints Urban and Lawrence in Prima Porta.
In 1998, having reached the age limit, he became Prefect Emeritus of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
He died on January 13, 2017. Upon hearing the news of his death, Pope Francis remembered him as a “sincere and diligent collaborator of the Holy See” who offered “a testimony of priestly zeal and fidelity to the Gospel”.
