Dean: Cardinal Tomko was 'person of firm faith and true spirituality'

"With Cardinal Jozef Tomko's passing, we've lost a person of firm faith, true spirituality and a lively religious feeling," Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, said at the final farewell for the late Slovak cardinal held in the Vatican on Thursday, at which the final ceremony was led by Pope Francis. Addressing the congregation during a requiem mass held in St. Peter's Basilica, the dean noted that Tomko, who died on August 8 at the age of 98, was the oldest of the cardinals and that he had dedicated his entire long and intensive life to the service of God and his brothers in the Roman Curia, where he held many posts over the years.