Ricardo Ezzati Andrello (, ; born 7 January 1942) is an Italian-born Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church who has lived and worked in Chile since the age of 17. He was Archbishop of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

from December 2010 to March 2019 and has been a cardinal since February 2014. He previously served as Archbishop of Concepción. He headed the

Episcopal Conference of Chile The Catholic Church in Chile is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome, and the Episcopal Conference of Chile. The Church is composed of 5 archdioceses, 18 dioceses, 2 territor ...

from 2010 to 2016.

Early life and education

Ricardo Ezzati was born in

Campiglia dei Berici Campiglia dei Berici is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is west of SP247 provincial road. It originated in the Middle Ages around a castle, destroyed in the 1310s. Sights include a parish church (13th century, rebuilt in 1679) ...

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, Italy. He immigrated to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

in 1959 to enter the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the Salesians in

Quilpué Quilpué is a city and capital of the Marga Marga Province in central Chile's Valparaíso Region. It is part of the Greater Valparaíso metropolitan area. It is widely known as "City of the Sun" () and the urban part of it also comprises the ...

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

, and studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Valparaíso. He studied theology at the

Pontifical Salesian University The Salesian Pontifical University (; ) is a pontifical university in Italy run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It has three campuses, one in Rome, one in Turin, and one in Jerusalem. The Salesian Pontifical University is an ordinary member of ...

in Rome, where he obtained his licentiate. He made his final vows as a Salesian on 30 December 1966 and was ordained as a priest of the Salesian order on 18 March 1970. After his ordination he received a Licentiate in Religious Studies at the Institut de Pastoral Catéchetique in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. He then held the title of Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the Catholic University of Valparaíso.

Priesthood

As a Salesian priest he held the following positions: Director for Youth Ministry in the Salesian School in Valdivia; Director of Community for the Salesians in Concepcion, Chile; Member of the Provincial Council of the Chilean Salesians; Director of the Salesian Seminary of Santiago de Chile; and Inspector Provincial of the Salesians in Chile. He was a member of the Faculty of Theology at the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univ ...

and Vice President of the Conference of Religious of Chile, participating in the General Chapters of the Salesian Congregation in 1984 and 1990.

Episcopate

In 1991, he was appointed to 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 ...

as an official of the

Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, formerly called Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (DICLSAL and formerly CICLSAL; ), is the dicastery of the Roman Cu ...

. On 28 June 1996,

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 Bishop of

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and ...

, Chile, and he was consecrated on 8 September. Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati at Installation

On 10 July 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the much larger Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile, assigning him the

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

of La Imperial. On 27 December 2006, he was named Archbishop of Concepción. In June 2009,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named him and four other prelates to serve as Apostolic Visitors to the

Legionaries of Christ The Legionaries of Christ (in , abbreviated L.C.) is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of pontifical right founded on January 3, 1941, by the Mexican Catholic priest Marcial Maciel. It belongs constitutively to the spiritual family of Regn ...

following the discovery that the order's founder, Marciel Maciel Degollado, an associate of

, had engaged in sexual abuse of minors and young men. Ezzati was given responsibility for investigating the order in South America: Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, where the Legion had 20 houses, 122 priests and 122 religious seminarians. While archbishop of Concepción, Ezzati mediated a dispute between the government and a group of 34

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

prisoners who had been on a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

for 82 days. On 15 December 2010, Pope Benedict appointed Ezzati as Archbishop of Santiago de Chile to replace Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz, who had submitted his resignation as required upon reaching the age of 75. Ezzati was installed in Santiago de Chile on 14 January 2011.

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

named Ezzati a member of the

Congregation for Catholic Education The Congregation for Catholic Education (Institutes of Study) () was the pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or non-ecclesiastical depende ...

in November 2013. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal at a

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 ...

on 22 February 2014. In May 2014, Pope Francis named him a member of the

Pontifical Commission for Latin America The Pontifical Commission for Latin America is a department of the Roman Curia that since 1958 has been charged with providing assistance to and examining matters pertaining to the Catholic Church in Latin America. The Commission operates under t ...

. In October 2014, Ezzati denied press reports that he had denounced the Jesuit priest Felipe Berríos to the Vatican and said he had only replied to inquiries about the priest's controversial statements from the papal nuncio. Press reports later demonstrated that Ezzati had initiated the accusation process to prevent Berríos from becoming chaplain at the

presidential palace A presidential palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. Some presidential palaces were once the official residences to monarchs in former monarchies that were preserved during those states' transition into republics. ...

. He participated in the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2014 and October 2015. He was one of the four prelates who presented the 2014 synod's summary document (the ''relatio''). He served as president of the

from 2010 to 2016. In December 2016, Ezzati submitted his resignation as required upon reaching the age of 75. Pope Francis did not accept it. In May 2018, Ezzati submitted it again. On 22 March 2019, the

Supreme Court of Chile The Supreme Court of Chile is the highest court in Chile. It also administers the lower courts in the nation. It is located in the capital Santiago. In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review—it cannot set bindi ...

rejected Ezzati's petition to stop the preliminary proceedings against him and not to bring in an accusation against him. One day later, Pope Francis accepted the submitted resignation.

Karadima case scandal

In February 2011, he announced that the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...

, based on an investigation conducted under his predecessor, had found Fernando Karadima, a prominent priest in the archdiocese, guilty of sexually abusing minors. In 2013 and 2014, he teamed with his predecessor, Cardinal Errazuriz, on a secret campaign to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz, one of Karadima's victims and accusers, from being appointed to the

Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is a pontifical commission within the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church instituted by Pope Francis on 22 March 2014 as an advisory agency serving the pope. Since 5 June 2022, the Commission ...

. The revelation of their email correspondence in September 2015 prompted advocates for victims of abuse to call for Ezzati's resignation. Includes the full text of several email messages. In January 2015, Pope Francis named Bishop

Juan Barros Madrid Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid (born 15 July 1956) is a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Bishop of Osorno from 2015 to 2018. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Valparaiso, Valparaíso from 1995 to 2000, Bishop of ...

to head a diocese. Barros was closely associated with Karadima and continued to defend him. Ezzati's advice that the appointment be withdrawn was not accepted.

Ongoing lawsuit

On October 21, 2018, reports surfaced that Chile's Court of Appeal ordered Ezzati's office to pay 450 million

Chilean peso The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a Chilean peso (1817–1960), previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. Its symbol is defined as a letter S with either one or two vertical bars super ...

s ($650,000) to three men who claimed that Karadima had sexually abused them for decades. However, Dobra Lusic, a spokesperson for the Court of Appeal, stated that the lawsuit was still ongoing and that no verdict had been reached.

Resignation amid new lawsuit

A man filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Ezzati and the Archdiocese of Santiago claiming that in 2015 he had been raped in a bedroom attached to the cathedral and that Ezzati had bribed him to keep silent. On 23 March 2019, Pope Francis accepted Ezzati's resignation, presented when he turned 75.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ezzati Andrello, Ricardo Living people 1942 births Salesians of Don Bosco 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Chile 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Chile Salesian Pontifical University alumni Italian emigrants to Chile Roman Catholic archbishops of Santiago de Chile Cardinals created by Pope Francis Chilean cardinals Salesian cardinals People from the Province of Vicenza Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso alumni Members of the Congregation for Catholic Education Members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America Naturalized citizens of Chile Roman Catholic archbishops of Concepción Roman Catholic bishops of Valdivia Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Chile Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Chilean Roman Catholics