Ennio Antonelli (born 18 November 1936) is an Italian cardinal of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and retired President of the

Pontifical Council for the Family The Pontifical Council for the Family was a pontifical council of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church from 1981 to 2016. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio ''Familia a Deo Instituta'', replacing the Com ...

Early life and ordination

Born in

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...

, he first attended seminary there, and then in Assisi and the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pont ...

, Rome, where he was awarded a

licentiate in sacred theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus; abbreviated STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theol ...

. He later earned a doctorate in classics at the

University of Perugia University of Perugia (Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale. Th ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

a priest for the diocese of Todi in 1960.

Bishop

He eventually became rector of the Seminary of Perugia and a professor of classics in Assisi before being consecrated a bishop in 1982, when

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

named him to head the diocese of Gubbio. In 1988 he was advanced to Archbishop of Perugia-Città del Pieve, from which see he stepped down in 1995 to become Secretary-General of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

Cardinal

He served in this position until March 2001, when he was named to the see of Florence, whose archbishop is traditionally named a cardinal, and he was duly elevated in the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church * Consistor ...

of 2003, becoming

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

Sant'Andrea delle Fratte Sant'Andrea delle Fratte ("Saint Andrew of the Thickets") is a 17th-century basilica church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to St. Andrew. The Cardinal Priest of the ''Titulus S. Andreae Apostoli de Hortis'' is Ennio Antonelli. History The current c ...

. He resigned as Archbishop of Florence on 7 June 2008, on becoming President of the

. On 29 January 2011 Cardinal Antonelli was appointed a member of the

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People ( la, Pontificium Consilium de Spirituali Migrantium atque Itinerantium Cura) was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia. The council, established by Pope John Paul I ...

. Cardinal Antonelli was considered an Italian '' papabile'' heading into the 2005 papal conclave in which

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

was elected and at which Antonelli was a cardinal elector. Cardinal Antonelli is no longer eligible to vote in any future papal conclaves as he turned 80 on 18 November 2016. He retired as president of the Pontifical Council for the Family on 26 June 2012. On 15 September 2012 he was appointed a member of the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

for a five-year term. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the

2013 papal conclave The 2013 papal conclave was convened to elect a pope to succeed Pope Benedict XVI following his resignation on 28 February 2013. After the 115 participating cardinal-electors gathered, they set 12 March 2013 as the beginning of the conclave. ...

that selected

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

. On Saturday, 19 July 2014, according to the Vatican web site's daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office, where papal appointments are listed, Cardinal Antonelli was appointed by

to serve as his Special Envoy to the consecration of the new Shrine of St. Gabriel in Teramo.

Views

Cardinal Antonelli is generally seen as a moderate, with a strong interest in social justice and peace issues. In response to demands that the Church denounce divorcees who were candidates for political office in the 1990s, he said the Church should be more concerned with their voting record. When in 2009 the Italian Court of Cassation declared there was no substantial difference in law between a family based on marriage and one resulting from cohabitation, he reacted by saying that, in the light of recent sociological studies that reveal the benefits to society of what is called the traditional family and the disadvantages for society of single-parent families and those of cohabiting couples, the traditional family is needed more than ever today both for family members and for society as a whole.

References

External links

*
Papabili list for 2009 at "Popes-and-Papacy"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonelli, Ennio 1936 births Living people People from Todi 21st-century Italian cardinals Roman Catholic archbishops of Florence Pontifical Council for the Family Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications Members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops Pontifical Roman Seminary alumni University of Perugia alumni Pontifical Lateran University alumni