He served as President of the Episcopal Conference of the Netherlands. Resigning as Utrecht's archbishop on 6 December 1975, he later voted in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. During the last years of his life, Alfrink lived, with his housekeeper Dora, in a bungalow at Dijnselburg near Huis ter Heide. The bungalow was called "Dora et Labora" by the Cardinal. It was specifically designed for him. He reappeared in public when Pope John Paul II visited the cardinal in 1985 during a papal visit to Benelux.