LONDON (AP) — Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 85.

The diocese said he died Friday. Murphy O'Connor had been living in west London when he was hospitalized last month.

He served as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales from March 2000 until his retirement in 2009.

He worked as a bishop for four decades, starting at the Diocese Arundel and Brighton in southeast England.

Pope John Paul II made Murphy-O'Connor a cardinal in 2001.