FRENCH CARDINAL DIES AT 92

The French Bishops' Conference has announced that Cardinal Jean Honoré, who was appointed by Benedict's predecessor John Paul II, died Thursday, hours before the pope was due to leave office. He was 92.

Honoré, who was Archbishop of Tours from 1972 to 1981, was already over 80 when he was made a cardinal in 2001, so he was unable to vote at the previous conclave in 2005 and would not have voted at the upcoming one either.

He was an expert in the work of the British 19th-century cleric Cardinal John Henry Newman, who was beatified by Benedict in 2010.

— Noami Koppel — Twitter http://twitter.com/naomikoppel

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