Cardinal George in memoriam: A brilliant leader

Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal George listen during a meeting with U.S. bishops in Washington April 16, 2008. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Cardinal George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, receives applause following his address at the Marriott Center on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Feb. 23, 2010. In his speech the cardinal spoke of Catholics and Latter-day Saints as partners in defending religious freedom. (CNS photo/Jaren Wilkey, courtesy of Brigham Young University)

Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, talks with Cardinal George of Chicago, president, during the U.S. bishops' annual fall meeting in Baltimore Nov. 15, 2010, (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Cardinal George joins panelists Mary Hirschfeld (Villanova University); Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde (University of Pennsylvania); Rachel Kranton (Duke University); and F. Russell Hittinger (University of Tulsa) during the Lumen Christi Institute Conference "The Human Person, Economics & Catholic Social Thought" at the University of Chicago on April 3, 2014. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)

In 2009, Cardinal George released his first book "The Difference God Makes."

Cardinal George visits with Mark Harang following his talk on the encyclical Humanae Vitae during the annual conference for Respect Life Coordinators at St. Lambert Parish in Skokie on March 8, 2008. (Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

Cardinal George smiles after being elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 13, 2007, in Baltimore. Outgoing president Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, right, joined other bishops in applauding Cardinal George's election. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)