Mario Luigi Ciappi

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Styles of Mario Cardinal Ciappi


Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
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Mario Luigi Cardinal Ciappi, OP (October 6, 1909—April 23, 1996) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as personal theologian to five popes from 1955 to 1989, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1977.

[edit] Biography

Born in Florence, Mario Ciappi studied at the seminary in Lucca. He later entered Order of Friars Preachers, more commonly known as the Dominicans, and professed in the convent of Santa Maria della Quercia in Viterbo. After studying at the convent of San Domenico in Pistoia, he attended the Angelicum in Rome, from where he obtained his doctorate in theology in 1933 with a thesis entitled De divina misericordia ut prima causa operum Dei. Ciappi was ordained a priest by Francesco Cardinal Marchetti-Selvaggiani on March 26, 1932.

He then furthered his studies at the University of Louvain and University of Fribourg until 1935. Ciappi taught moral and dogmatic theology at his alma mater of the Angelicum, where he also served as dean of the Theological Faculty, from 1935 to 1955; he also lectured on Thomistic aesthetics at the Institute Beato Angelico. On May 5, 1955, he was named Master of the Sacred Palace. In this capacity, Ciappi served as the personal theologian to the pope. The title was later renamed as Theologian of the Pontifical Household on March 28, 1968, by Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Pontificalis domus. He advised Pope Paul while the latter wrote Humanae Vitae^[1], and later defended the same encyclical against charges that it was in conflict with Thomistic principles^[2].

On June 10, 1977, in advance for his cardinalatial promotion, Ciappi was appointed Titular Bishop of Misenum. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 18 from Dino Cardinal Staffa, with Archbishop Jean Hamer, OP, and Bishop Angelo Verardo, OP, serving as co-consecrators, in the basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Paul VI, shortly afterwards, created Ciappi as Cardinal Deacon of Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore in the consistory of June 27, 1977.

From 1977 to 1989, the Dominican continued his role under the title of Pro-theologian of the Pontifical Household. Ciappi was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectfully. After ten years' standing as a Cardinal Deacon, he opted to become a Cardinal Priest, with the titular church of Sacro Cuore di Gesù aggonizante a Vitinia, on June 22, 1987. According to The Devil's Final Battle, the Cardinal once said of the apparition at Fatima, "In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top"^[3].

Ciappi died in Rome, at age 86, and was there buried at the Campo di Verano cemetery. During his almost forty year-long tenure as papal theologian, he served Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II.