VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Cardinal Camillo Ruini, former president of the Italian bishops’ conference and a towering figure in Italy’s post-Second Vatican Council culture wars, died on Tuesday (June 16) at the age of 95.

Ruini had been admitted to the hospital in September to treat kidney problems, and his health declined in the following months as he was being treated at home.

In a telegram, Pope Leo XIV praised Ruini as “an esteemed man of the church” who served his diocese and the Italian church with “generosity.”

“Ruini served the Church with intelligence, pastoral passion and a profound sense of the Church’s mission,” read a statement signed by the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.

The late cardinal was a theological conservative but a defender of the Second Vatican Council and open to dialogue with cultural and secular opponents. Until the end of his life he weighed into Italian politics and church life, offering his insight in essays and interviews.

Ruini’s death marks a symbolic sunset of the generation that fought the post-Vatican II battles over truth, relativism and the role of the church in the modern world. The Italian church may be witnessing the end of the age of the culture war cardinal.

The Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, was a major gathering of bishops at the Vatican between 1962 and 1965 that sought to reshape how the church presented itself to the modern world, from liturgy to interreligious dialogue to increased lay involvement. After the event, Catholics debated whether the church had done too much, or too little, to engage with the modern world.

Ruini was born Feb. 19, 1931, in Sassuolo, in Emilia Romagna, which would later become one of Italy’s socialist and left-leaning territories despite a notable Catholic presence. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he came into contact with the global theological debates shaping the church.

Ruini was not just a gifted theologian. He had been raised in an environment that pushed the Catholic Church to argue, organize and compete for relevance, within the context of Emilia Romagna’s lively society that produced many of the political leaders of the time. 

He was ordained a priest in 1954. John Paul II named him auxiliary bishop of Reggio Emilia and Guastalla in 1983, and he was ordained a bishop that June.

“I remember with gratitude his faithful collaboration with Pope John Paul II, whom he accompanied at decisive moments in the life of the church and society, always moved by the desire to bear witness to the Gospel in the hearts of people and in the world,” wrote Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the longtime personal secretary and close collaborator of St. John Paul II, on Wednesday after learning of Ruini’s death.

Ruini’s star rose quickly, driven by his charismatic and intellectual abilities. In 1991, he was elevated to a cardinal and became vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, a position he held until 2008; he was appointed head of the Italian bishops until 2007.

“His leadership left a profound mark, reflecting his intelligence in interpreting the presence of Christians in the city,” read a statement by the Diocese of Rome, the pope’s diocese. The statement recognized Ruini as a “shrewd” operator who understood the politics of Rome and Italy “with the Catholic pride of being the custodians of a heritage of values that are not to be concealed, but to be safeguarded and defended.”

In 2000 he was a member of the Jubilee Committee, crowning his tenure as John Paul II’s lieutenant, engaging with the world but on the church’s own terms.

Ruini participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI. While Ruini and Benedict had a good relationship, the cardinal opposed the pope’s decision to appoint Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as his right-hand man heading the Vatican Secretariat of State. Ruini noted in a recent essay that Benedict’s pontificate was undermined by “little aptitude for governing.”

Bertone has been embroiled in notable Vatican scandals, including the 2012 leaked document scandals known as Vatileaks, while the renovation of his post-retirement luxury apartment, using funds from the Vatican-owned Hospital Bambino Gesù, resulted in a Vatican trial and clashed with the Francis-era style of poverty and humility. Bertone denied wrongdoing and was not charged in the Bambino Gesù trial.

In retirement, Ruini continued to serve the Vatican by overseeing the international commission of the Marian site of Medjugorje between 2010 and 2014 and presiding over the commission of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican foundation until 2015.

The late cardinal was critical of Pope Francis’ pontificate but celebrated the election of Pope Leo XIV, who Ruini hoped would “reunite the Catholic Church.” Ruini met Leo in a private audience on June 10, 2025.

More than anything, Ruini will be remembered as a steadfast culture warrior, defending the “nonnegotiable values” of the church in public discourse. As vicar of Rome, he denied a Catholic funeral for Piergiorgio Welby, the muscular dystrophy patient whose ventilator was disconnected at his request in 2006. Ruini also weighed in on the U.S. case of Terri Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed in 2005 after a yearslong legal fight.

Ruini spoke adamantly against proposals to legalize embryo research and assisted reproduction, and granting legal recognition for same-sex couples. He argued his positions about the relevance of the church adamantly, even stepping into the 2007 debate between Ratzinger and the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas.

In its statement, the Vatican said Ruini understood the importance of engaging with culture.

“The Christian message, he always maintained, must engage with the real questions of humanity, society and culture,” the statement read.

Pope Leo XIV will preside over the funeral Mass for Ruini at the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican on Thursday.