Today, the Pope appointed the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, new chamberlain of the Roman Holy Church, thus accepting the renunciation to the office submitted by Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, following the rules of the Apostolic Constitution "Universi Dominici Gregis". In a letter addressed to Cardinal Martinez Somalo celebrating his 80th birthday in these days (he was nominated chamberlain on 5 April 1993), – Benedict XVI expressed his "grateful thanks for the solicitude, competence and love" with which the cardinal "fulfilled such delicate task, in the service of the Holy See and of the universal church", owing to "his long and intense service" at the Apostolic See. In particular, the Holy Father praised the "great dignity and the solemn sobriety" through which Martinez Somalo "performed the role of chamberlain of the Roman Holy Church, at the moment of the pious death of the late Pope John Paul II; during the extraordinary proof of faith at the time of the funeral of the beloved Pope; during the whole period of the Vacant Papal See; and in the carrying out of the works of the Conclave for the election of the new Pope". The chamberlain is the cardinal presiding over the Apostolic Chamber and fulfilling the task of taking care of and administering the goods and the temporal rights of the Holy See, at the time when the latest is vacant.
