Severino Poletto (18 March 1933 – 17 December 2022) was an Italian

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

who served as

Archbishop of Turin The Archdiocese of Turin ( la, Archidioecesis Taurinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in Italy.

from 1999 to 2010. A bishop since 1980, he was made a cardinal by

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 ...

in 2001.

Biography

Poletto was born in Salgareda, Veneto, on 18 March 1933, the youngest of 11 children, 9 of whom survived infancy. The family emigrated to the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

in search of work in 1952. He studied at the seminary in

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Vene ...

and then at the major seminary in

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the ...

in the province of

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandri ...

. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1957 by Bishop Giuseppe Angrisani of Casale Monferrato. He earned a licentiate in moral theology ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome in 1977 and worked as a curate in Montemagno. In 1965 he was named parish priest in Oltreponte; at the same time he worked part-time in a local factory. In 1973, Poletto founded the Diocesan Centre for Family Ministry. On 3 April 1980, he was named bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Fossano. He was consecrated a bishop on 17 May by Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero, Archbishop of Turin, and succeeded as bishop on 29 October. Poletto served for ten years as secretary of the Piedmontese Episcopal Conference. On 16 March 1989, he was named

Bishop of Asti The Diocese of Asti ( la, Dioecesis Astensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Piedmont, northern Italy, centered in the city of Asti. It has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Turin since 1515.

and on 19 June 1999 Archbishop of Turin. He was installed in Turin on 9 September.

created him Cardinal-Priest of San Giuseppe in Via Trionfale on 21 February 2001. On 15 May John Paul named him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and on 18 May of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. Poletto was one of the

cardinal electors 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 ...

who participated in the

2005 papal conclave The 2005 papal conclave was convened to elect a new pope following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005. After his death, the cardinals of the Catholic Church who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave to el ...

that elected

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 sovereig ...

and the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Turin on 11 October 2010. Poletto died in Moncalieri, just south of Turin, on 17 December 2022, at the age of 89.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poletto, Severino 1933 births 2022 deaths People from the Province of Treviso Alphonsian Academy alumni 21st-century Italian cardinals Bishops of Asti Archbishops of Turin 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Pontifical Lateran University alumni