| Styles of Giuseppe Betori |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Archbishop |
| Posthumous style | not applicable |
Giuseppe Betori (born 25 February 1947 in Foligno, Italy) is an Italian cleric of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current archbishop of Florence and the former Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
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Ordained priest in 1970. He received a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and a doctorate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He was Professor of anthropology biblical exegesis; Dean of the Theological Institute of Assisi. He also served as undersecretary of Italian Episcopal Conference.
He was nominated by Pope John Paul II as Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference and was simultaneously appointed Titular Bishop of Falerone. He received episcopal consecration on 6 May 2001. He was confirmed as Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference, for a further five-year term, on 6 April 2006.
Betori was appointed to replace Ennio Antonelli, who had been appointed as president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, as archbishop of Florence by Pope Benedict XVI on 8 September 2008.[1] He received the pallium from Pope Benedict on 29 June 2009, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome. [1]
On 5 November 2011 Archbishop Betori survived an apparent assassination attempt. An unidentified man confronted the archbishop outside his office, shot and wounded the prelate’s secretary, and waved a gun at the archbishop before escaping. Fr Paolo Brogi, the archbishop's secretary, was reportedly in satisfactory condition after surgery to repair an abdominal wound. Archbishop Betori and witnesses that the gunman said something as he gestured toward the prelate with his firearm, but they could not understand his intent.[2]
On 10 December 2011 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture for a five year renewable term.[3]
In a 2007 speech, he identified as the new enemies of Christianity: abortion, euthanasia, the negation of sexual duality and of a family based on marriage.[4]
Betori has favored a ban on the ordination of homosexuals, saying the word discrimination can be used where there is a right, but that a vocation is not a right but a gift.[5]
According to Abbé Claude Barthe, Betori is a member of the paleoliberal wing of the Roman Curia, who along with Giovanni Battista Re, has constituted a kind of internal curial opposition to the decisions and policies of Pope Benedict XVI.[6]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ennio Antonelli |
Secretary-General of the Italian Episcopal Conference 5 April 2001–8 September 2008 |
Succeeded by Mariano Crociata |
| Preceded by Ennio Antonelli |
Archbishop of Florence 2008– present |
Incumbent |