Compiled by SOCCOM Archdiocese of Kuching
June 21 2021
IT was late morning on that fateful day 29 May 2021 when news broke in RCSC WhatsApp chatgroup of the passing of His Eminence Cornelius Cardinal Sim, DD of the Apostolic Vicariate of Brunei Darussalam. Everyone reacted with shock and sadness.
Cornelius Cardinal Sim was President of the Regional Episcopal Commission for Social Communications (RCSC) of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
He had arrived on 8 May to seek treatment for cancer at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH), Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Sadly, he succumbed to his illness at around 8.28 AM on 29 May 2021.
The Cardinal, aged 69, was the eldest of six children and was ordained a priest in 1989. He was named bishop in 2004 and was one of 13 prelates given a red hat by Pope Francis in November 2020, making him Brunei’s first cardinal.
Cornelius Cardinal Sim was laid to rest after a Requiem Mass at the Church of Our Lady of Assumption, Bandar Seri Begawan on 15 June 2021.
The Cardinal’s last communication with RCSC members was on 16 May, World Communications Day (WCD), when he posted:
“Dear RCSC members, thanks for all the initiatives around WCD 2021. My general health has also not been great all through the last few months. My cancer has spread and my liver is quite swollen causing me tiredness and lethargy ++++ ?.”
RCSC Members were happy to be able to chat with him, wishing him a speedy recovery, and assuring him of our prayers, never imagining those would be our last conversations with him.
As we remember him. Read the full news in Today’s Catholic.
