Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, the retired prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, died on July 17 at the age of 80. Ordained to the priesthood in the Poznan archdiocese in 1962, he had served at the Vatican for deacons, including stints as secretary and later as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, before being named prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education in 1999 by Pope John Paul II. He retired from that post in 2005.

With the death of Cardinal Grocholewski there are now 221 living members of the College of Cardinals, of whom 122 are eligible to vote in a papal conclave.