VIENNA, Austria - Cardinal Franz Koenig, Austria's highest moral authority and a former trendsetter for Vatican (news - web sites) policy toward other religions and postwar communist regimes, died Saturday. He was 98.
The famed Pummerin bell in Vienna's downtown St. Stephen's Cathedral rang solemnly Saturday morning in honor of Koenig, who was widely revered in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Austria even after his retirement in 1985.
He died in his sleep in Vienna, Austrian radio reported.
Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II sent a message of condolence praising Koenig for "his work for peace and reconciliation far beyond the borders of his homeland" and for showing "remarkable concern in supporting believers in eastern Europe during the unfortunate political division of the continent."
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the current leader of the Austrian church, said he felt "a great and deep sorrow" over Koenig's death.
"The many years of the presence and service of Cardinal Koenig were a gift for the church in Austria and around the world," Schoenborn told the Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress.
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