Obituaries : Cologne Cardinal Joseph Hoeffner; Foe of A-Power

Cardinal Joseph Hoeffner, a conservative theologian who advocated traditional Roman Catholic doctrine and criticized the use of nuclear energy, has died of complications resulting from a brain tumor.

The church said that the former chairman of the West German Roman Catholic Bishops Conference died Friday at 80. Hoeffner had stepped down as archbishop of Cologne in September and from his Bishops Conference post citing ill health.

His uncompromising opposition to attempts to liberalize church rules often found him at the center of controversy but in agreement with Pope John Paul II.

Hoeffner, who took over the Cologne Archdiocese in 1969, was a member of a group of cardinals studying economic and administrative problems of the Roman Catholic Church.

Throughout his career, he steered a largely traditional course on theological and social issues. He opposed reform movements in the church that sought to eliminate the vow of celibacy for priests and resisted efforts to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments.

In 1986, shortly before national elections, Hoeffner urged Catholics not to support the opposition Greens Party, saying the party’s liberal, and sometimes radical, platform was at odds with fundamental Catholic beliefs.

However, Hoeffner did share some of the Greens’ concern about the use of nuclear energy. In 1980, he warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of the reckless use of nuclear technology, a position he never abandoned.

Hoeffner also sought reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics.