Cardinal recovering well' after brain haemorrhage

by Viviane Hewitt in Rome CARDINAL Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was recovering in a Roman clinic this week from what doctors described as a "brain haemorrhage".
The clinic said the condition of the 64-year-old cardinal, born in Markham Inn, Bavaria, had given cause for concern for several hours but that he had made a remarkable recovery. Signs that the cardinal was unwell had come just days before he declined "for health reasons" to officiate at the consecration of an Italian bishop.
The church's doctrinal watchdog is one of the busiest and most committed of Pope John Paul 1I's close collaborators. He is also president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and heads the International Theological Commission. Since,1981, he has been guiding the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's most important and oldest congregation, founded by Pope Paul III in 1542 as the Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition to Defend the Church from Heresy.
Under Cardinal Ratzinger, the Congregation has followed an orthodox and hardline approach in doctrinal matters.