Carlo Furno (2 December 1921 – 9 December 2015) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church.

Early life and career

Furno was born in

Bairo Bairo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont, about north of Turin. Bairo borders the following municipalities: Castellamonte, Torre Canavese Torre Canavese ( Piedmontese: ''La Tor Bè ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, in 1921. He was educated at the diocesan College at Ivrea and later at the Seminary of Ivrea, where he studied philosophy and theology. He was sent to the Theological Faculty, Crocetto Salesian Athenaeum in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, (1948–1949) and later the

Pontifical Roman Seminary The Pontifical Roman Major Seminary () is the major seminary of the Diocese of Rome. It is located at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. Since 2017, the rector of the seminary has been Gabriele Faraghini, a priest of the Little Brothers of ...

, Rome where he took a

doctorate in utroque iure A doctor of both laws, from the Latin , , or ("doctor of both laws") (abbreviations include: JUD, IUD, DUJ, JUDr., DUI, DJU, Dr.iur.utr., Dr.jur.utr., DIU, UJD and UID), is a scholar who has acquired a doctorate in both civil law (legal syste ...

, both canon and civil law, (1953). Furno was summoned to the elite

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (, ) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Despite its name, the P ...

, Rome from 1951 to 1953 where he took practical courses in diplomacy. After his priestly ordination on 25 June 1944Vicariatus Urbis
and six years of pastoral work in his home diocese, he began a career in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. He worked in a subordinate role in Colombia, Ecuador and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and then in the Secretariat of State. Following these assignments and episcopal consecration on 16 September 1973, he served as

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

(Papal Ambassador) successively to Peru, Lebanon, Brazil and Italy.

Cardinal

He was created

Cardinal-Deacon A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

of Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re on 26 November 1994. After ten years he opted to become

Cardinal Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

of that church. From 2005 until his death in late 2015 he was Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Onofrio, in recognition that the church is the Order's headquarters after the 15 August 1948,

motu proprio In law, (Latin for 'on his own impulse') describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a document issued by the pope on h ...

Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

establishing that the Order's headquarters should be transferred from Jerusalem to Rome.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem on 16 December 1995. The aforementioned Order, like the

Knights of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

, is a member of many international bodies and has observer status at others (such as the United Nations). Cardinal Furno resigned this office in June 2007 and was succeeded by American

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

John Patrick Foley John Patrick Foley (November 11, 1935 – December 11, 2011) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. From 2007 until 2011, he was Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an order of knighthood u ...

, who had been serving as the President of the

Pontifical Council for Social Communications The Pontifical Council for Social Communications () was a dicastery of the Roman Curia that was suppressed in March 2016 and merged into the Secretariat for Communication (now the Dicastery for Communication). According to '' Pastor bonus'', Po ...

, an important department of the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

. Cardinal Furno died on 9 December 2015 at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furno, Carlo 1921 births 2015 deaths People from the Metropolitan City of Turin 20th-century Italian cardinals 21st-century Italian cardinals 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Bishops appointed by Pope Paul VI Pontifical Roman Seminary alumni Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Apostolic nuncios to Peru Apostolic nuncios to Lebanon Apostolic nuncios to Brazil Apostolic nuncios to Italy Grand Masters of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre