The ceremonies accompanying the resignation of Cardinal Adrianus Simonis as Archbishop of Utrecht and President of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference are planned for 8 December. The main event – a pontifical eucharistic celebration concelebrated with members of the Bishops’ Conference and the Apostolic Nuncio in the Cathedral of St. Catherine – will be broadcast live on television by RKK. It will be followed by a procession and a reception in the church of St. Nicholas. While awaiting the nomination of a successor, Simonis will remain as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Utrecht and President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Netherlands. Member of that Conference since 1970, first as Bishop of Rotterdam and then, since 1983, as Archbishop of Utrecht and President of the Conference itself, Simonis, in conformity with canon law, officially resigned from the office of archbishop of Utrecht on his 75th birthday (26 November 2006). The Pope accepted his resignation on 14 April 2007, though asking the cardinal to remain as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Utrecht until the appointment of a new archbishop; the investiture would then take place in the following month.
