Laurean Cardinal Rugambwa, who in 1960 become the first African cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, died Monday in Dar-es-Salaam, the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference announced. He was 85.
His elevation to the College of Cardinals by Pope John XXIII was a signal of the church's recognition of its debt to its non-European clergy, and of the growing importance of Catholic congregations in parts of the world that had once been the domain of European missionaries.
Cardinal Rugambwa was an early and active participant in the Second Vatican Council, advocating the internationalization of the Roman Curia and the adaptation of the liturgy to local customs and music. He was also a strong voice for ecumenism, preaching collaboration with other Christian denominations.
''We must be open-minded,'' he said during the 70th session of the Second Vatican Council. ''In the missions, where separation is a fact of everyday life, we have to be ready to cooperate with non-Catholics in all possible ways.'' He also stressed te importance of involving the lay community in the work of the church.
''The church is not a museum nor an archive, but a teacher of life,'' he said.
Born on July 12, 1912, of a noble family from the Nsiba tribe in Bukongo, in what was then Tanganyika, Laurean Rugambwa was baptized by missionaries when he was 8, along with the rest of his family. In 1943, after attending a seminary in Uganda, he was ordained a priest, and after working as a missionary in western Africa for several years, he came to Rome to study canon law.
He was made a bishop in 1951, and upon returning to Tanzania in 1952 he became the country's first indigenous bishop, serving the diocese of Rutabo. In 1968 he was made Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, relinquishing those duties in 1992 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 80. In November 1996 he came to Rome to attend the 50th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's ordination as a priest.
The Cardinal is to be buried in Dar-es-Salaam on Saturday after lying in state in St. Joseph's Cathedral.
In a condolence message to Bishop Polycarp Pengo of Dar-es-Salaam, Pope John Paul II described Cardinal Rugambwa as ''the first cardinal among all Africa's children and a close colleague of myself and my predecessors.''
The Catholic Church in Africa has been growing steadily in size and influence in the past 40 years, and, according to Vatican estimates, is now home to 100 million Catholics. There are now 11 African cardinals.