Giovanni Battista Re | |
|---|---|
| Dean of the College of Cardinals | |
 Re in 2023 | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| See | Sabina-Poggio Mirteto Ostia |
| Appointed | 18 January 2020 |
| Predecessor | Angelo Sodano |
| Other posts |
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| Previous posts |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 3 March 1957 by Giacinto Tredici |
| Consecration | 7 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II |
| Created cardinal | 21 February 2001 by Pope John Paul II |
| Rank |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | (1934-01-30)30 January 1934 (age 91) |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Parents | Matteo Re (father) |
| Motto |
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| Coat of arms |  |
| Styles of Giovanni Battista Re | |
|---|---|
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Ostia and Sabina-Poggio Mirteto (suburbicarian dioceses) |
Giovanni Battista Re (born 30 January 1934) is anItalian Catholicprelate who has served asDean of the College of Cardinals since 2020. He was elevated to the rank ofcardinal in 2001 and served as prefect of theCongregation for Bishops from 2000 to 2010. As the most senior cardinal-bishop in attendance, he chaired the2013 papal conclave that electedPope Francis.
Born inBorno, Italy, the son of the carpenter Matteo Re (1908–2012),[1] Giovanni Battista Re was ordained apriest by Archbishop Giacinto Tredici inBrescia on 3 March 1957. He holds a doctorate in canon law from thePontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and taught in the Brescia seminary.[citation needed] To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered thePontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1961.[2]
Re has been a member of the Roman Curia since 1963, where he served as personal secretary to ArchbishopGiovanni Benelli. He was elevated tomonsignor and served in various diplomatic positions before being named bothbishop of thetitular see of Forum Novum and secretary of theCongregation for Bishops on 9 October 1987.[3]Pope John Paul II administered the episcopal consecration one month later, on 7 November.
On 12 December 1989, he becamesostituto ("substitute") for general affairs of the Vatican'sSecretariat of State, one of the key positions under theCardinal Secretary of State.[3]
Re was named on 16 September 2000 to head theCongregation for Bishops and thePontifical Commission for Latin America.[3] Re becameCardinal-Priest ofSs. XII Apostoli in theconsistory held 21 February 2001, named first among those elevated. The next year, on 1 October, he was namedCardinal Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto. Re automatically lost his position as prefect on 2 April 2005 upon the death of John Paul II and was reconfirmed in office byPope Benedict XVI on 21 April 2005. He held both positions until 30 June 2010.
In 1996, BishopFabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, notified Catholics in his diocese that they would incur automatic excommunication if they belonged to groups that espoused beliefs that contradicted Catholic teaching, specifyingCall to Action Nebraska,Catholics for a Free Choice, theFreemasons, theHemlock Society,Planned Parenthood, and others.[4] Call to Action challenged his authority to make such a declaration, asking the Congregation for Bishops to provide an "authoritative judgment of the Holy See".[5] As prefect of the congregation, Re upheld Bruskewitz's action in 2006.[6]
Re, who as prefect of the Congregation of Bishops assisted the pope in deciding the future careers of the clergy, said, "WhenMonsignor Wielgus was nominated, we did not know anything about his collaboration [with the secret services]. Wielgus resigned his position asArchbishop of Warsaw on 6 January 2007, just one day after being installed in that post in a private ceremony, just before the start of his public installation, because of revelations that he cooperated with thePolish communist secret police decades earlier".[7]
In January 2009, Re published a decree removing the excommunications from the bishops of theSociety of Saint Pius X.[8] CardinalDario Castrillon Hoyos stated that if anyone in the Vatican should have known aboutRichard Nelson Williamson's negationist views, it was Re, whose congregation oversaw information about bishops and prelates.[9][10]
In March 2009, after an abortion on a nine-year-old girl raped by her stepfather and pregnant with twins had been performed to save her life, ArchbishopJosé Cardoso Sobrinho ofOlinda and Recife stated thatautomaticexcommunication had been incurred by the girl's mother and the medical team.[11] PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized what he called the archbishop's "conservative attitude" and health ministerJosé Gomes Temporão directed his criticism against the Catholic Church's position, describing it as "extreme, radical and inadequate". In a comment to an Italian newspaper, Re deplored what he called an attack on the church in Brazil: "It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated. Life must always be protected. The attack on the Brazilian church is unjustified." He added that excommunication of those who performed the abortion was just.[12] TheNational Conference of Bishops of Brazil declared the Archbishop's statement mistaken.[13]
On January 11, 2006,Thomas Gumbleton testified at a hearing at theOhio General Assembly inColumbus, Ohio, about sexual abuse in the Catholic church. The Assembly was considering a bill to create a legal window for victims of sexual abuse to sue the perpetrators. In his statement, Gumbleton endorsed the bill and called for all states to enact bills like this one. He also revealed that he wassexually abused by a priest as an adolescent while in theseminary.
According to an account given by Gumbleton in 2011, the bishops of Ohio opposed the proposed sexual abuse bill and were incensed by his testimony. They immediately complained to the Vatican about him. A few days later, Gumbleton received a letter from Cardinal Re, saying that Gumbleton had violated the solidarity ofcommunio episcoporum (communion of bishops) by testifying for the bill in Ohio without the permission of the local bishop. Re ordered Gumbleton to resign immediately as auxiliary bishop and as pastor of St. Leo's Parish.[14][15][16]
As prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Re played a central role in Benedict XVI's attempts to discipline former CardinalTheodore McCarrick. Re's role in this matter came to light after ArchbishopCarlo Maria Viganò's August 2018"Testimony" made a number of specific statements regarding his involvement in the matter, which were clarified and expanded upon by subsequent reporting.
Viganò said that in 2000, Re, as newly appointed prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, opposed McCarrick's appointment as archbishop of Washington. This statement has been supported by reporting by the Catholic News Agency[17] and byAndrea Tornielli and Gianni Valente's bookIl Giorno del Giudizio.[18]
Further, according to Tornielli and Valente, sometime afterBishop Paul Bootkoski ofMetuchen, McCarrick's former see, reported to NuncioGabriel Montalvo Higuera on 5 December 2005, that his diocese had made at least one settlement with a former seminarian who accused McCarrick of sexual harassment, Re informed McCarrick in writing that negative reports about him had come to light.[18] McCarrick was replaced as archbishop of Washington shortly after. In late 2006 or early 2007, after McCarrick had been replaced as archbishop and further reports of McCarrick's sexual assault of adults had reached Rome, Re sent McCarrick a letter via NuncioPietro Sambi in which he instructed him to leave the Redemptoris Mater seminary where he was living and to lead a life of retreat and prayer.[19] These instructions were not obeyed. Following the April 2008 publication ofRichard Sipe's "Statement for Pope Benedict XVI", Re sent McCarrick another written letter, which was presented to him at the nunciature by NuncioPietro Sambi, telling him to leave Redemptoris Mater and live in a monastery or become the chaplain of a home for the elderly run by nuns. In a letter of response, McCarrick refused Re's instructions and proposed instead that he live in a residence for priests in Washington, a parish in Washington, an apartment in Rome, or in a residence near an American Catholic university. He also argued that canceling all his pending invitations and public appearances would bring unwelcome attention.[19] In a subsequently leaked communication to Fr. Anthony Figueiredo of 7 October 2008, McCarrick stated that "Cardinal Re has approved my moving to a parish and my Archbishop [Donald Wuerl] has been great in beginning to work that out". He also stated that he had agreed to make no public appearances either in the United States or abroad without Re's approval and to resign from all Roman andUSCCB entities, and that Re had forbidden him to come to Rome.[20] However, McCarrick continued to make many public appearances around the world and to travel to Rome in subsequent years, with no public objection from Re.
According to his August 2018 "Testimony", Viganò learned from a conversation with Re sometime between 16 July 2009 and 30 June 2010[a] that Benedict XVI had imposed disciplinary measures (which Viganò inaccurately referred to as "canonical sanctions") on McCarrick that required him to leave Redemptoris Mater seminary and forbade him to celebrate Mass in public, take part in public meetings, give lectures, or travel. While Vigano's original statement gives the impression that he believed that Re was telling him about new events rather than actions that had been undertaken in 2007–2008, a subsequent October 2018 statement[21] clarifies that the 2009-2010 time frame referred to the time when Re told him of these measures, not the time at which the measures were implemented.
Re has refused to speak about his involvement in the matter of McCarrick to journalists.[22][23]
Re was a member of various offices of the Curia. In May 2008, Pope Benedict named him a member of thePontifical Council for Legislative Texts. He was also a member of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and theCongregation for the Oriental Churches in addition to theAdministration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See. He held these memberships until his 80th birthday.
Re was one of thecardinal electors who participated in the2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.[24] He was identified by numerous commentators before and during the 2005 conclave as a potential successor to John Paul II.[25][26][27]
WhenPope Benedict XVI resigned on 28 February 2013, CardinalAngelo Sodano, thedean of the College of Cardinals, and CardinalRoger Etchegaray, the subdean, were over the age of 80 and therefore ineligible to participate in the conclave to elect his successor. Re, as the senior cardinal elector, presided over theconclave that elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio asPope Francis. At thenew pope's inauguration on 19 March 2013, Re was one of the six cardinals who made a public profession of obedience to the new pope on behalf of the College of Cardinals.[28][b]
On 10 June 2017, Pope Francis approved Re's election as subdean of the College of Cardinals by the cardinals of thesuburbicarian sees (dioceses in the suburbs of Rome).[29] On 18 January 2020, Pope Francis approved his election to a five-year term as dean of the College of Cardinals by the nineLatin Church cardinal bishops,[30][31] and to a second five-year term as dean on 7 January 2025.[32]
As Dean of the College of Cardinals, Re along withPope Francis[33] presided over thefuneral of Pope Benedict XVI on 5 January 2023.[34] It was the first funeral for a retired pope sincePope Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415 and died two years later. Two years later, on 26 April 2025, Re officiated at thefuneral of Pope Francis.[35] He presided over the General Congregations of the College of Cardinals leading to the2025 papal conclave[36] and presided at theMissa Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice on the morning of 7 May 2025, before the conclave started later that afternoon.[37] He was too old to be an elector and therefore did not preside over the conclave.[c]
Media related toGiovanni Battista Re at Wikimedia Commons| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops 9 October 1987 – 12 December 1989 | Succeeded by |
| Secretary of the College of Cardinals 9 October 1987 – 12 December 1989 | ||
| — TITULAR — Archbishop ofVescovìo (pro illa vice) 9 October 1987 – 21 February 2001 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Substitute for General Affairs 12 December 1989 – 16 September 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops 16 September 2000 – 30 June 2010 | Succeeded by |
| President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America 16 September 2000 – 30 June 2010 | ||
| Preceded by | Cardinal Priest ofSanti XII Apostoli 21 February 2001 – 1 October 2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Cardinal Bishop ofSabina-Poggio Mirteto 1 October 2002 – present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals 10 June 2017 – 18 January 2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Dean of the College of Cardinals 18 January 2020 – present | Incumbent |
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