Antonio Innocenti

Cardinal Antonio Innocenti ( born August 23, 1915 in Poppi, Arezzo Province, Italy, † September 6, 2008 in Rome ) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

Life

Antonio Innocenti studied at the seminary in Fiesole Catholic theology and philosophy and received on 17 July 1938, the sacrament of Holy Orders. He was then a priest in Valdarno, Toscana, works. 1938 to 1941 he received his doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University and in theology at the Pontifical Lateran University. He also taught at the seminary in Fiesole and was secretary to the bishop. During this time he helped Jews on the run and barely escaped his execution by the Germans. 1948 to 1950 he graduated from the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

From 1950 to 1953 he was secretary of the Apostolic Delegation of Leopoldville and in the years 1953-1960 you sat him as a diplomat at the Apostolic Nunciature in Switzerland. Further stations of his diplomatic service were the Netherlands, Egypt and Belgium, where he represented the Holy See at the Euro Europe.

In 1967 he was called by Pope Paul VI. appointed Titular Archbishop of Aeclanum and appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Paraguay. The episcopal consecration on December 15, 1967 He received his Amleto Giovanni Cardinal Cicognani, former foreign minister in the Vatican Secretariat of State. Co-consecrators were the archbishop and later Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, former ex officio proceedings of the Vatican Secretariat of State, and Antonio Bagnoli, Bishop of Fiesole.

1973 Pope Paul VI appointed him. Secretary of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments. From 1980 to 1985 he was then Apostolic Nuncio in Spain.

On May 25, 1985 it took John Paul II as a Cardinal Deacon of the Title of Santa Maria in diakonia Aquiro in the College of Cardinals to. From 1986 to 1991 Innocenti was as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy before from 1988 to 1991, he headed the Pontifical Culture Commission, and from 1991 to 1995 he was president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

1995 his resignation at the age of 80 years was upheld as president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei by John Paul II. On January 29, 1996, he was appointed while retaining its title Diakonia cardinal priest per hac vice.

Benedict XVI. praised Cardinal Innocenti for his " apostolic zeal " and his " fidelity to the Gospel ," as well as for his courage during the Second World War. The obsequies were celebrated for Innocenti, led by Angelo Cardinal Sodano on 10 September 2008 at St. Peter's Basilica; the rites of " Ultima Commendatio " ( blessing ceremony ) and the " Valedictio " ( goodbye ) took Benedict XVI. even before.