87 year old Roger Marie Élie Cardinal Etchegaray was born September 25, 1922 and ordained a Priest July 13, 1947. He is Cardinal-Bishop of the Porto-Santa Rufina Diocese in Italy and serves as President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which was established in January 1967 and "promotes justice and peace in the world in accordance with the Gospel and the social teaching of the Church."

After the attack on Pope Benedict XVI last night during Midnight Mass at the Vatican, it was reported that Etchegaray, who was already in frail health, fell and suffered a broken femur in the melee.

Card. Etchegaray has quite an interesting history, and is touted as a world class diplomat who has met Saddam Hussein, resolved international conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians, gave lectures on the free market and globalism, as well as recieved a peace award from Henry Kissinger.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II sent Cardinal Etchegaray to Iraq in diplomatic efforts to prevent the Iraq war.  Etchegaray met with Saddam Hussein for about 90 minutes and hand delivered a letter from the Pope.

He met with Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow in August 2007 to help improve relations between the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox Church, which split in 1054 AD.

In one of his best known missions, Etchegaray travelled to Jerusalem in May 2002 to help peacefully resolve the standoff at the Church of the Nativity. He met with Israeli president Moshe Katvaz as well as Yasser Arafat while in Israel, and said "I come in the name of John Paul II who resolutely never ceases to witness respect for and confidence in the two peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, both lacerated today but united by a deep aspiration to live in freedom, justice and security, to which they have a right. I come to ask that everything be done to end the tragic situation in Bethlehem and that the Basilica of the Nativity be returned to God and to believers"

Reflecting on his meeting with the slain Iraqi leader, Etchegaray told the Catholic Herald in 2007 "First of all, [Saddam Hussein’s] hanging was an occasion for deep reflection for humanity on the role of the death penalty, on capital punishment. The contact that I had with Saddam, who was no angel as we know, was an encounter that perhaps allowed me to discover the mystery of the man, a man who, whatever he’d done in the past, had a conscience" He went on to say that the Iraq war "is sad. It is sad to see this same country, ... not succeed in being able to live in peace and to also live in their diversity...the Iraqi people, with their diverse history, culture and religion, deserve to live in justice and peace."

In his November 1996 speech A Jubilee on Poverty, Etchegaray noted "When God created every element of the world, giving each its unique value and place, he also established a harmony among them. The human person, created "male and female", was entrusted with the stewardship of this God-given harmony of creation. The sinfulness of human beings, however, destroyed this harmonious relationship among persons and between people and creation."

He went on to insist "Debt forgiveness must be part of a process of the restoration of justice", suggesting Christians "give thought, among other things, to reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations".

He outlined how political leaders are obligated to help the poor and cited Pope John Paul II's 1991 Encyclical 'Centesimus Annus' which stated "the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilising resources and effectively responding to needs", but added "there are many human needs which find no place on the market" and "it is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied".  Expanding on the free market, Christian obligation, and globalisation, Etchegaray said:
 

• "Centesimus Annus, in fact, clearly brings out the central role of the State, and of society as a whole, in defending those collective goods which cannot be safeguarded by the market alone.
• ...But a word of caution about comments by Church leaders on the market economy, especially critical comments. There is no way in which we can ignore the advantages and prosperity that the market economy has brought. And when we criticise its deficiencies, when we criticise some of its negative consequences, we have to be honest and to include in such criticism ... ourselves! How many of us can truly say that we are not the sons and daughters of the market system? Can any of us say that we are immune from that most infectious of all diseases 'consumerism'? Criticism of the negative effects of a market mentality must begin with the adoption by all of us of a different life style, one in which we reject, and lead others to reject, certain options which would only contribute to accentuating the most brutal aspects of a consumerist mentality.The care of the weakest certainly is a special responsibility of 'the king', of those who assume responsibility for leadership in society. But none of us can abdicate our own areas of responsibility.

The term 'globalisation' is on the lips of all. It is a process which is irreversible. It is a process which could be a great force for good, because it is linked with two fundamental truths: that the goods of creation are for all, and that the fundamental global reality is the human family. Globalisation will be a force for good in the proportion in which it is able to make these two truths a reality. In the proportion in which the process of globalisation denies, damages, or undermines these two truths, then it will be a source of grave damage and distortion in our world.

Etchegaray received UNESCO's 2003 Félix Houphouët-Boigny peace prize  along with Mustafa Ceric of Bosnia and Herzegovina, chosen "by an international jury presided by former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace laureate Henry Kissinger." On UNESCO's website, Kissinger declared: “These two religious personalities have been chosen in recognition of their action in favour of inter-faith dialogue, tolerance and peace. The jury believes reconciliation of religious views to be one of the great challenges of our age. This is a particularly important challenge for the country of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the creator of the Prize [Côte d’Ivoire], where the reconciliation of Muslims and Christians is very important if bloodshed is to be avoided. But we have considered the importance of religious reconciliation for the whole of humanity.”

In response to the award, Etchegaray said  he felt proud but "felt his efforts have been dwarfed by the vastness of the world's problems." Other winners of the award have included Nelson Mandella, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Jimmy Carter.

Etchegaray's involvement in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians at the Church of the Nativity
had two widely conflicting narratives, depending on one's point of view.
In his 2002 article Israeli distortions during the siege on the Church of the Nativity, Nigel Parry reported "Trapped between advancing Israeli forces in the center of Bethlehem, approximately 200 Palestinians -- mostly civilians and policeman, along with some gunmen from local Fatah militias and Christian clergy -- took refuge in the Church of the Nativity, the Christian holy site built over the traditional location where Jesus Christ was born. Palestinians had last sought refuge in the church during Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967."

Sergio Minerbi had a negative view, writing in  THE VATICAN AND THE STANDOFF AT THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY  that "The huge Catholic machinery was spreading strong anti-Israel propaganda in various degrees. Catholics in Israel are represented by a Latin Patriarch who is openly and publicly anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian. The forced entrance of armed Palestinians into the church created an international crisis, with the Holy See leading a campaign of unprecedented criticism against the State of Israel. On May 1, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray was sent to Bethlehem as a special envoy of the pope to solve the crisis "caused by the Israeli army siege around the Church of the Nativity," according to a press release by the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. [Raed Abusahlia, "Arrival of Cardinal Etchegaray to the Holy Land," Jerusalem, May 1, 2002.]
 

This would seem in conflict with an essay Etchegaray wrote in 2000, WHY THE CHRISTIAN FAITH NEEDS JUDAISM, in which he states:

• "It is true that Jesus divides us, that he is amongst us a sign of contradiction, a foot hole. I really like the astonishing formula of S. Ben Chorin: "The faith of Jesus unites us but the faith in Jesus separates us". Therefore, I dare to say - it is the profound truth of every paradox - that Jesus unites us in the same instant that he divides us. Because this laceration deals only with us. A Buddhist, a Hindu, have no reason to be called upon because of Jesus Christ: they never encounter him in their history. Even the Moslems, just barely touch upon him. ...But us, Jews and Christians.... Because, us and them, are the only ones who are able to pronounce the divine Word, which is spoken to all men, we also hang together on the same Word and the same witness of the same promise for all of humanity. In this sense, even the future of the ecumenical movement between the different Christian Churches is tied to the knowledge that the bond with Judaism is the test of faith of Christianity to the same God. ....Beyond every personal form of witness, I remain convinced that my Christian faith, in order to be faithful to itself needs the Jewish faith."
  

See also:

Do Catholics have to submit to a "world political authority"?

Mike Wallace questions Margaret Sanger on her opposition to the Catholic Church

Truth be told: Kissinger is not an advisor to Pope Benedict XVI