Bishops in 1985 and in 1987. In 1991, he was appointed President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. In 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Canada in 2005. He died on August 25, 2007, in Montreal at the Saint-Sulpice Seminary. The funeral Mass was at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. On hearing of his death, Pope Benedict XVI said that Cardinal Gagnon was a "faithful pastor who, with an evangelical spirit, consecrated his life in service to Christ and his Church." Special Assignments In 1987 Cardinal Gagnon was given the task of seeking a rapprochement with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's traditionalist Society of St Pius X. Gagnon conducted interviews with the Archbishop and others and visited institutions belonging to the new Society. Unfortunately, the Archbishop refused the condition that he ordain only one bishop for the Society. The mission ended in failure and Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988, after consecrating four bishops without permission from the Holy See. Legacy Cardinal Gagnon lectured at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The Edouard Cardinal Gagnon Professorship of Fundamental Theology was created at the Institute by the Knights of Columbus in honorable memory of Cardinal Gagnon. References External links "Canadian Cardinal Gagnon dead at 89", Catholic World News, 27 Aug. 2007 Cardinal Gagnon's Final Address to the 2004 Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus "Death of Cardinal Édouard Gagnon", CCCB 1918 births 2007 deaths Canadian cardinals Officers of the Order of Canada People from Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine Roman Catholic titular archbishops Université Laval alumni Participants in the Second Vatican Council Pontifical Council for the Family Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Sulpicians Sulpician bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Saint Paul, Alberta