Mario Tagliaferri (1 June 1927 – 21 May 1999) was an Italian prelate 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who spent his 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 became an archbishop in 1970 and served as an Apostolic Nuncio from then until his death.

Biography

Mario Tagliaferri was born in

Alatri Alatri () is an Italian town and ''comune'' of the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. An ancient city of the Hernici,Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hernici". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). it is kno ...

(

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

), Italy, on 1 June 1927. He was ordained a priest on 5 August 1950. To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered the

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 ...

in 1952. He joined the diplomatic service in 1954 and his early assignments took him to the Dominican Republic, the United States, Canada and Brazil. On 5 March 1970,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

named him a

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Central African Republic, as well as Apostolic Delegate to the Republic of the Congo and Chad. He received his episcopal consecration on 7 May from Cardinal

Jean-Marie Villot Jean-Marie Villot (11 October 1905 – 9 March 1979) was a French prelate and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1965 to 1967, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1967 to 1969, Vatican Secret ...

. On 25 June 1975, Pope Paul appointed him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Cuba. On 15 December 1978,

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 ...

named him Nuncio to Peru. In that capacity, he signed on behalf of the Pope the ''Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Peru'' (July 26, 1980). On 20 July 1985, Pope John Paul named him Nuncio to Spain. After Tagliaferri had been nuncio there for three years, Cardinal Vicente Enrique y Tarancón, Archbishop of Madrid, complained that he still acted like a typical nuncio in South American, where nuncios are accustomed to giving orders, a style unfamiliar to the Spanish Church, which he helped give a more conservative character. On 13 July 1995, Pope John Paul named him Nuncio to France. ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' expressed surprise that he was sent to France rather than brought to Rome and made a cardinal now that he was 68. He took up that post on 16 October 1995 and established a routine–unusual for a nuncio–of regular visits to dioceses around the country. An official with the Conference of French Bishops recalled: "The more he was invited, the happier he was." He died on 21 May 1999, shortly before his 72nd birthday.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Mario Tagliaferri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagliaferri, Mario 1927 births 1999 deaths Apostolic nuncios to the Central African Republic Apostolic nuncios to the Republic of the Congo Apostolic nuncios to Chad Apostolic nuncios to Cuba Apostolic nuncios to Peru Apostolic nuncios to Spain Apostolic nuncios to France 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Bishops appointed by Pope Paul VI