A Cardinal for a Leper Colony

"If the Gospel must be proclaimed to all men, it is directed first of all to the poor in spirit." So saying, Paul-Emile Cardinal Leger, 63, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Montreal, last week announced that he will leave his see next month to become "a simple missionary" in a still unspecified leper colony in Africa. Although he retains the personal title of cardinal, Leger will work as a priest under the direction of an African bishop.

One of the church's most consistently reform-minded prelates, urbane, witty Cardinal Leger grew up in the Quebec village of St. Anicet, and was rector of the Canadian College in Rome before being elected Archbishop of Montreal in 1950. Pope Pius XII named him a cardinal three years later. At the Second Vatican Council, Leger spoke out in favor of a conciliar statement on religious freedom and for a change in church doctrine that would allow for the possibility of artificial birth control.

He has preached the need for greater Christian responsibility toward the world's poor in countless sermons and pastoral letters. Leger was also an advocate of church renewal at the recent Synod of Bishops in Rome, where he made his final decision to quit his archdiocese. "It was during the discussions on faith and atheism," he explained, "that my future became a question of conscience for me. It became clear that Our Lord was asking me for deed as well as words." On the final day of the Synod, Pope Paul reluctantly approved Leger's request for a transfer.

Leger believes that if Christianity is to mean anything to man today, it must strive to narrow the gulf between the "silent suffering" in underdeveloped lands and the affluence of "Technocratic, sophisticated civilization." He expressed the hope that "those who may not understand my words may be touched by my decision." Besides, he quipped, "I don't think that being a cardinal is a hindrance to doing good."

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