The oldest living cardinal died in his apartment in Rome at 5 AM on August 8, at the age of 98.
On June 25, Cardinal Jozef Tomko was hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital due to a cervical spine injury.
The Vatican Secretary of the State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin visited him at the hospital.
Tomko returned to his apartment on August 6, to receive in-home care. He was under the care of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
Cardinal Tomko was the oldest member of the College of Cardinals.
He was a member of the College of Cardinal for over 37 years. Pope John Paul II created him as a cardinal in May 1985.
Tomko served 16 years as the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples until he retired in 2001 at the age of 77.
He served another six years as president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses from 2001 to 2007.
The cardinal was one of the President-Delegates to the Presynodal Council for the Special Synod of Asian Bishops in September 1995.
He traveled to Africa, Asia, and Latin America during these years.
The Slovak Bishops’ Conference asked Catholics to pray for the soul of Cardinal Tomko.
The Press Office of the Slovak Bishops’ Conference announced that the burial will be at St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Košice, eastern Slovakia, near the Hungarian border and the program will be announced soon. -With inputs from Vatican News
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