ANP Bishop Harrie Smeets during a memorial service for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Christopher’s Cathedral
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L1mburg
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 21:18
Former Bishop Harrie Smeets of Roermond died this afternoon at the age of 63, the diocese of Roermond reports. Smeets had been seriously ill for several years.
Smeets was appointed bishop in October 2018. A brain tumor was discovered in 2021 and at the beginning of this year it became clear that treatment was no longer possible.
After a few years, Smeets had to resign from office due to his deteriorating health. Last July the bishop stopped working and a month later the Pope granted Smeets an honorable discharge as bishop of Roermond. His work was taken over by the vicar general of the diocese, the first deputy of the bishop.
‘Not the appointment I was looking forward to’
Harrie Smeets was born in Heerlen in 1960. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1992, Smeets was a chaplain in Weert, Thorn and Wessem and a pastor in Maastricht. He then went to Venray where he remained until he became bishop. According to 1Limburg Smeets said he was not exactly looking forward to becoming a bishop.
“When I was appointed Bishop of Roermond in 2018, this was certainly not the appointment I had been looking forward to. I must also honestly admit that it was difficult for me in the beginning to adapt to this role,” said he wrote last July in a letter to the Limburg believers.
Yet Smeets immediately got to work enthusiastically from the moment he was appointed, says Vicar General René Maessen. “He was able to do this for 2.5 years. Then he unexpectedly became very seriously ill,” he says. “From that moment on he bore his suffering courageously.”
Visit to the Vatican
At the end of 2022, Smeets paid a working visit to the Vatican, where he and the other Dutch bishops spoke with the Pope about the state of affairs surrounding the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands.
It was both the first and last visit for the sick Smeets. “I’m glad it’s possible. Only I really wouldn’t have been able to do it anymore. Also because I know, you have to be realistic, that it is probably the first and last time,” he said at the time.
It is not yet known when the funeral will take place. All parishes in Limburg have been asked to sound the death knell tomorrow at 11 a.m.
2023-12-20 20:18:51
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