Jaime Cardinal Sin – Today in History – July 8, 1987
On July 8, 1987, as official representative of the Vatican to the Millenary of the Russian Orthodox Church, his Eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin became the first Catholic prelate to visit Lithuania since the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Born on August 31, 1928 in Aklan, Cardinal Sin, Archbishop emeritus of Manila, attended the 600th anniversary celebration of Christianity in Lithuania.
Cardinal Sin took part in the celebration despite friction between the Soviet government and the church over the Vatican’s refusal to acknowledge Soviet sovereignty in that Baltic republic.
He described his trip to Lithuania as a “pilgrimage of friendship and love.”
Notably, Cardinal Sin served at the united voice of the Filipino people during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution and became instrumental in ending the dictatorial Marcos regime and in the installation of Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino as the country’s first woman president.
He died on June 21, 2005 at the age of 76.
