Aloisio Lorscheider, one of Latin America's most influential cardinals, died today after a lengthy hospitalization. He was 83.The Brazilian cardinal was hospitalized in early December with a heart condition, the Aparecida Archdiocese said in a statement without revealing more about his death.
The two-time president of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops played an influential role in the two conclaves of 1978 and pushed for the election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland, who became Pope John Paul II.
Lorscheider created a stir in Brazil in 1998 when he doubted the healing effects of popular tiny rice-paper pills linked to Friar Galvao, who this year became Brazil's first native-born saint.
Shortly after Galvao was beatified as a key step toward his sainthood, Lorscheider, at the time Archbishop of Aparecida do Norte, ordered the nuns to stop making what he called "small pieces of paper that foster superstition."
"Those pills are like the fake medicines that miracle workers claim could cure all diseases," Lorscheider said.
Thousands of believers still flock to the 18th-century Luz Monastery every day for the pills, three of which must be swallowed over a nine-day period known as a "novena."
Lorscheider was born Oct. 8, 1924, in Picada Geraldo, Rio Grande do Sul state. He became Archbishop of Fortaleza in 1973, and in 1976 he was nominated cardinal by Pope John Paul IV.
After the death of Paul VI, Lorscheider reportedly helped muster the votes of Third World cardinals to the Patriarch of Venice, who became Pope John Paul I.
After the pope's death 33 days after his election, Lorscheider pushed for the election of Wojtyla, who became John Paul II.
Lorscheider led the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops from 1971 until 1978. He also presided over the Latin American Episcopal Council in 1976.
He retired from the command of the Aparecida archdiocese in 2004.
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