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

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

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 served as Archbishop of Turin from 1999 to 2010. A bishop since 1980, he was made a cardinal by

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 ...

in 2001.

Biography

Poletto was born in

Salgareda Salgareda is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about northeast of Venice and about east of Treviso. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 6,102 and an area of .All demographics a ...

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

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

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

and then at the major seminary in

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Northwest Italy, northwestern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po River, Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montfe ...

in the province of

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

. 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 Sout ...

'' from the

Alphonsian Academy 150px, Alphonsus Liguori, whose teachings inspired the establishment of the Academy. The Pontifical Alphonsian Academy (; ), also commonly known as the Alphonsianum, is a pontifical institution of higher education founded in 1949 by the Redempt ...

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 Anastasio Alberto Ballestrero (3 October 1913 – 21 June 1998), religious name ''Anastasio del Santissimo Rosario'', was an Italian cardinal and member of the Discalced Carmelites who served as the Archbishop of Turin from 1977 until his res ...

, 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 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 The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regard ...

and on 18 May of the

Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See The Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was an office (a technical category of dicastery) of the Roman Curia, erected on 15 August 1967, and entrusted with overseeing all the offices of the Holy See that manage finances, regardles ...

and the

Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church The Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church () was an institution within the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church that presided over the guardianship of the historical and artistic patrimony of the entire Church - that is to say ...

. Poletto was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the

2005 papal conclave A papal conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a new pope to succeed John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Of the 117 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the fourth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Josep ...

that elected

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 ...

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 Moncalieri (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 56,134 inhabitants (31 January 2022) about directly south of downtown Turin (to whose Metropolitan City of Turin, Metropolitan City it belongs), in Piedmont, Italy. It is the most populous suburb ...

, 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