Swiss Cardinal Gilberto Agustoni, who died in Rome Jan. 13, was a “sincere and steadfast” member of the Roman Curia and gave a witness of “priestly zeal and fidelity to the Gospel” at the Vatican for almost 50 years, Pope Francis said.

The cardinal, who served as head of the Apostolic Signature, the Church’s supreme court, from 1992 to 1998, died at the age of 94. He began a series of assignments at the Vatican in 1950 and retired in the city in 1998.

After earning his theology degree from the University of Fribourg, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1946. Four years later, Cardinal Ottaviani called him to Rome.

While working at the doctrinal congregation, then-Father Agustoni attended Rome’s Lateran University, earning a degree in canon law.

Later he was also a commissioner, dealing with marriage cases, in the then-Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments.

His work in central church courts began in 1970 when he was appointed a judge in the Roman Rota, the court of appeals for decisions regarding marriage annulments and other matters.

He worked at the Rota for 16 years before being named an archbishop and secretary of the Congregation for Clergy in 1986.

St. John Paul II named him to the College of Cardinals in 1994.

Cardinal Agustoni’s death leaves the College of Cardinals with 226 members, 120 of whom are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.