Pio Cardinal Laghi, US-Vatican diplomat, dies

The news:

In this March 5, 2003 file photo President Bush welcomes Cardinal Pio Laghi, Pope John Paul II's envoy, left, during a meeting on the looming war with Iraq, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. Cardinal Pio Laghi, a longtime Vatican diplomat who went to Washington in 2003 to personally try to dissuade President George Bush from launching the Iraq war, died in the evening of Saturday Jan. 10, 2009 in Rome, the Vatican said Sunday, Jan 11, 2009. He was 86. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Bush has released a statement of condolance. More from the AP:

The Italian-born Laghi had a long career in the Vatican diplomatic corps, serving first in Nicaragua in 1952. He was dispatched to India, Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Cyprus, Greece and Argentina before being named envoy to Washington in 1980.

At the time, there were no formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See; Laghi oversaw the establishment of ties in 1984 and remained as the Vatican's permanent diplomatic representative there until he was recalled to Rome to serve as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education.

Prayers for the repose of his soul.