Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval dies at 79

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval, C.SS.R., Archbishop emeritus of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, died on Wednesday at the age of 79.

He had served in the 1970’s as a superior in the Redemptorist in Vallegrande, and was named an Auxiliary bishop of La Paz in 1978. He became bishop of Oruro in 1982.

He attended the 1980, 1985 and 1987 Synod of Bishops and the Special Assembly for America in 1997. He was elected President of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference in 1985 and 1988, and reelected 2006-2009 and 2009-2012.

He was appointed Archbishop of Santa Cruz on 6 February 1991, and named a Cardinal by St. John Paul II in 2001. He retired in 2013.

He was the only Cardinal from Bolivia, and the only Cardinal who was a member of the Redemptorist order.

With his death, there are now 217 living Cardinals, of whom 117 are under 80 years of age, and therefore eligible to enter a Conclave.