Tarcisio Bertone

His Eminence Tarcisio Bertone SDB
Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church
See	Frascati
Appointed	4 April 2007
Predecessor	Eduardo Martínez Somalo
Other posts	Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati
Orders
Ordination	1 July 1960 by Albino Mensa
Consecration	1 August 1991 by Albino Mensa
Created Cardinal	21 October 2003 by John Paul II
Rank	Cardinal-Bishop
Personal details
Birth name	Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone
Born	(1934-12-02) 2 December 1934 Romano Canavese, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Residence	Vatican City
Previous post	Archbishop of Vercelli (1991–1995) Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1995–2002) Archbishop of Genoa (2002–2006) Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria Auxiliatrice in via Tuscolana (2003–2008) Cardinal Secretary of State (2006-2013)
Motto	fidem custodire, concordiam servare (Protect Faith, Preserve Unity)
Signature
Coat of arms

Ordination history of Tarcisio Bertone
Priestly ordination
Ordained by	Albino Mensa (Vercelli)
Date of ordination	1 July 1960
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecrator	Albino Mensa (Vercelli emer.)
Date of consecration	1 August 1991
Cardinalate
Elevated by	Pope John Paul II
Date of elevation	21 October 2003
Bishops consecrated by Tarcisio Bertone as principal consecrator
Mauro Piacenza	15 November 2003
Luigi Palletti	16 January 2005
Raffaele Farina SDB	16 December 2006
Gianfranco Girotti OFM Conv	16 December 2006
Antoni Stankiewicz	16 December 2006
Carlo Chenis SDB	10 February 2007
Leo Boccardi	18 March 2007
Vincenzo Bertolone SdP	3 May 2007
Michele Di Ruberto	30 June 2007
Gaetano Galbusera Fumagalli SDB	26 August 2007
Vito Rallo	28 October 2007
Gianni Ambrosio	16 February 2008
Luciano Suriani	26 April 2008
Léon Kalenga Badikebele	1 May 2008
Frans Daneels OPraem	1 May 2008
Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru	1 May 2008
Miguel Maury Buendía	12 June 2008
Paolo De Nicolò	12 June 2008
Bernardito Auza	3 July 2008
Piergiuseppe Vacchelli	3 July 2008
Luis Ladaria Ferrer SJ	26 July 2008
Ambrogio Spreafico	26 July 2008
Martin Krebs	16 November 2008
Luigi Bianco	25 April 2009
Jan Pawłowski	30 April 2009
Joseph Spiteri	24 May 2009
Mario Toso SDB	12 December 2009
Jean Laffitte	12 December 2009
Giovanni D’Ercole FDP	12 December 2009
Petar Rajič	23 January 2010
Piero Pioppo	18 March 2010
Novatus Rugambwa	18 March 2010
Eugene Nugent	18 March 2010
Valentino Di Cerbo	1 May 2010
Giorgio Lingua	9 October 2010
Barthélemy Adoukonou	8 October 2011

Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, S.D.B. (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian prelate and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal of the Catholic Church, he has served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, was Prefect, Archbishop of Genoa from 2002 to 2006, and as Cardinal Secretary of State from 2006 to 2013. Bertone was elevated to the cardinalate in 2003. On 10 May 2008, he was named Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati.

Cardinal Bertone served as Camerlengo following Benedict XVI's resignation on 28 February 2013 and until the election of Pope Francis, he served temporarily as the administrator of the Holy See and acting head of state of the Vatican City State. He was considered a contender to succeed Pope Benedict XVI.^[1]

Besides his native Italian, Bertone speaks fluent French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. He has some knowledge of English, although he is not fluent, and he can read Polish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

Early life

Bertone was born in Romano Canavese, Piedmont, the fifth of eight children. Bertone has stated that his mother was a determined anti-fascist militant of the Italian People's Party, and later a Christian Democrat.

He professed his vows as a member of the Salesians on 3 December 1950, and was ordained a priest by Archbishop Albino Mensa on 1 July 1960. He holds a doctorate in canon law. His dissertation was entitled The Governance of the Church in the Thought of Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758).^[2] He served as Professor of Special Moral Theology at the Pontifical Salesian University from 1967 until his appointment as Professor of Canon Law in 1976, a post he held until 1991. He was a visiting professor of Public Ecclesiastical Law at the Institute Utriusque Iuris of the Pontifical Lateran University in 1978. In 1988 he was appointed to a group of experts that assisted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in negotiations with the excommunicated Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. He was also commissioned by Pope John Paul II to assist Emmanuel Milingo, Archbishop Emeritus of Lusaka, Zambia, in returning to the Catholic Church in 2001. Milingo had left the Church to marry Maria Sung of the Moon sect.^[3]

Archbishop and Cardinal

On 4 July 1991, Bertone was appointed Archbishop of Vercelli by Pope John Paul II. He was consecrated bishop one month later by Archbishop Mensa, who had also ordained him. He held this post until his resignation in 1995 upon being named Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI. Appointed Archbishop of Genoa on 10 December 2002 and installed on 2 February 2003, Bertone was elevated to the College of Cardinals in the consistory of 21 October 2003, as Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Via Tuscolana. Then-Archbishop Angelo Amato succeeded Bertone as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, before becoming the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

As a member of the Society of Don Bosco, he is considered a priest who has undertaken work with youth whom, in Pope John Paul's last words, he had sought throughout his papacy. Bertone's secretary once related a story that "Bertone once decided to take a public bus to the Apostolic Palace. As the Cardinal in his long black cassock and red fascia strode on to the bus, the people, especially a group of young people, stared in silence. Bertone immediately broke the ice with his 'characteristic' smile. By the time he reached his destination the prelate had engaged the youth in a deep conversation on love, sex, virginity, and chastity".^[4]

He later specialized in the relationship between social morality, faith and politics. He also assisted with the revision of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and undertook pastoral work in parishes. In the Jubilee Year 2000, Cardinal Bertone was entrusted by John Paul II with the publication of the third part of the secret of Fatima.

Bertone was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Bertone is eligible to vote in any future conclaves that begin before his 80th birthday on 2 December 2014.

On 15 March 2005, Bertone was in the news for "breaking the Church's silence" and sharply criticizing Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, saying the book was "shameful and unfounded lies", and that believers should boycott the book. Both Bertone and official Vatican spokespeople insisted that Bertone was not speaking as an official representative of the Church, but it was also noted that Bertone's high placement within the Church hierarchy (his name was often cited as a potential candidate for the next pontiff) gave his words considerable weight, such that his comments were often reported by various media as an official statement from the Vatican.^[5] In 2006, the NBC news program Dateline described his statement as "a high-ranking Vatican Cardinal called for a boycott of the film."

Cardinal Secretary of State

Styles of Tarcisio Bertone SDB
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

On 22 June 2006, Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Bertone to replace Angelo Sodano as the Cardinal Secretary of State, assuming the office on 15 September of that same year. On 26 June 2006 Cardinal Bertone was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.^[6]

It was revealed on the following 31 August that Cardinal Bertone had a dream in which Pope John Paul II spoke to him saying "do not be afraid" to the Cardinal as he prepared to take his new job.^[7]

On 4 April 2007, Benedict XVI also appointed Cardinal Bertone as Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church (or Chamberlain). The duties of the Camerlengo are largely confined to administration during the vacancy of the Holy See.^[8] On 10 May 2008 he was promoted to the rank of Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati.^[9]

Bertone is known to study the problem at hand before taking action. One such example is when after he was named Archbishop of Vercelli he "locked himself in his room all night and studied the life of Saint Eusebius, who was bishop of the city back in 345 AD".^[4]

When Pope Benedict XVI resigned on February 28, 2013, Cardinal Bertone as Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church was the acting head of state for Vatican City and administrator for the Holy See during the sede vacante. He was the second most senior cardinal-elector in order of precedence among the cardinal-electors who participated in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis--the only cardinal with more seniority was the presiding cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.^[10][11] Cardinal Bertone himself was seen as a contender to succeed to the papacy,^[1][12] although his chances as a papabile were seen to be diminished due to the perception of him being a "potential scandal in the making".^[12] At Pope Francis' inauguration, Cardinal Bertone was one of the six cardinals who made the public act of obedience on behalf of the College of Cardinals.^{[lower-alpha 1][13][14]}

He is a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Congregation for the Clergy, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Congregation for Bishops and Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He will hold these memberships until his 80th birthday on 2 December 2014.

Evaluation of dicasteries

Two weeks before entering office, Bertone was interviewed and asked his opinion about reforms of the Roman Curia. Bertone remarked, "After almost two decades, an evaluation of how the dicasteries are organised is more than comprehensible, in order to reflect on how to make the existing structures more efficient for the mission of the Church and eventually to consider whether all of them should be maintained".^[15]

Church and sports

Cardinal Bertone suggested in December 2006 that the Holy See "could, in future, field a team that plays at the top level, with Roma, Internazionale, Genoa and Sampdoria." He continued by saying, "If we just take the Brazilian students from our Pontifical universities we could have a magnificent squad".^[16] However, only hours later he said, "I've got much more to do than cultivating a football squad for the Vatican", and explained that his earlier remark was not intended to be taken seriously.^[17]

Defence of Pius XII

On 5 June 2007, at a conference announcing the release of a new biography of Pope Pius XII, Bertone defended Pius against claims of indifference toward the Jews during The Holocaust. The Cardinal condemned this accusation as a "black legend" and "an attack on good sense and on rationality", which has "become so firmly established that even to scratch it is an arduous task".^[18] Although he admitted that Pius XII had been "cautious" in condemning Nazi Germany, Bertone stated that Nazi forces would have intensified its program of genocide had the Pope been more outspoken.

Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy

On 16 September 2006, Cardinal Bertone, after only one day in his job as Cardinal Secretary of State, released a declaration explaining that the "position of the Pope concerning Islam is unequivocally that expressed by the conciliar document Nostra Aetate" and that "the Pope's option in favour of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue is equally unequivocal."^[19]

As for the opinion of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus which he quoted during his Regensburg talk, the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that opinion his own in any way. He simply used it as a means to undertake—in an academic context, and as is evident from a complete and attentive reading of the text—certain reflections on the theme of the relationship between religion and violence in general, and to conclude with a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come. [The Pope] sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions.^{[20][21] (emphasis as in original)}

Comments by Patriarch Alexius II

On 5 December 2006, Patriarch Alexius II accused the Holy See of an "extremely unfriendly policy"^[22] when he said that the Catholic Church was poaching converts in Orthodox lands in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics. In response, Cardinal Bertone said, "We do not want to engage in proselytism in Russia".^[23]

Le Figaro interview

On 31 March 2007, Cardinal Bertone confirmed Pope Benedict's impending publication of the long-expected motu proprio extending the indult for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro.^[24][25][26]

In the same interview, Bertone "blasted the media for highlighting the Vatican's views on sex while maintaining a 'deafening silence' about charity work done by thousands of Catholic organisations around the world."^[27] He continued by saying, "I see a fixation by some journalists on moral topics, such as abortion and homosexual unions, which are certainly important issues but absolutely do not constitute the thinking and work of the Church."

Proposed excommunication of drug dealers

On 14 January 2009, Cardinal Bertone suggested that the Church would consider taking much stronger action against drug dealers. This action might possibly include excommunication. He made a statement about the Church's alarm at the "disaster" of drug-fuelled violence on the eve of a trip to Mexico.^[28]

Support for universal and free access to anti-AIDS drugs

On Friday 22 June 2012, in an online news story article by Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service (CNS), it was reported that, in a conference in Rome on the prevention of the transmission of AIDS from mothers to children sponsored by the lay Community of Sant'Egidio (which runs the DREAM project, a free AIDS prevention/treatment program in 10 African countries), the Cardinal Secretary of State urged that full and easy access to antiretroviral drugs be made free worldwide (these are drugs, such as AZT, that can treat, and in some cases, can prevent people from getting, AIDS; they do not presently cure AIDS once it has infected someone). Cardinal Bertone acknowledged that the only way this would be remotely feasible, especially in Africa- where the efforts would be most needed and focused- would be through a collaborative effort involving aid groups, governments, donors, medical groups, pharmaceutical companies, and churches.^[29]

Vatican leaks

Cardinal Bertone is the main target of much of the leaks in the Roman Curia. Cardinal Bertone blamed the scandal over leaked Vatican documents on unethical journalists and a spirit of hostility toward the Catholic Church. "Many journalists play at imitating Dan Brown," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview with the Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana. "They continue to invent fables or repeat legends." Cardinal Bertone made his remarks as Vatican judges were investigating leaks to Italian journalists of dozens of documents, including letters to the pope and encrypted cables from Vatican embassies around the world, several of which hint at power struggles among officials of the Holy See. "The truth is that there is a malicious will to produce division" among the collaborators of Pope Benedict XVI, he said.^[30]

Ash Wednesday speech

On 13 February 2013, at the last public Mass of Pope Benedict XVI before his resignation would take effect on 28 February, Cardinal Bertone praised Pope Benedict, "We would not be honest, Your Holiness, if we said that this evening there is not a hint of sadness in our hearts. In recent years, your teaching has been a window open onto the Church and the world, which let in the rays of truth and love of God, to enlighten and warm our journey, even and especially at times when clouds gathered in the sky". Cardinal Bertone went on to say "All of us have realized that it is precisely the deep love that Your Holiness has for God and the Church that prompted you to make this act, revealing that purity of mind, that strong and demanding faith, that strength of humility and meekness, along with great courage, that have marked every step of your life and your ministry".^[31]

Retirement

His retirement as Secretary of State was announced on 31 August 2013 and became effective on 15 October of the same year.

Awards and honors

In February 2010 president Lech Kaczyński of Poland conferred on the cardinal the country's highest decoration for foreign nationals, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Poland, "for the lofty merits acquired in the development of the collaboration between the Republic of Poland and the Holy See and for the work carried out in favor of the Church in Poland."

Cardinal Bertone also received the Gaudium et Spes Award at the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention in 2007. It is the order's highest honor.^[32]

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tarcisio Bertone.

• Biography at catholic-pages.com
• Tarcisio Bertone, Salesian Cardinal
• Salt+Light TV Interview: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB – Witness
• Bertone interview
• Thomas P. Doyle – Letter to Cardinal Bertone
• God's bankers – Economist

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Roberto Giannatelli	Rector Magnificus of Salesian Pontifical University 1 June 1989–4 June 1991	Succeeded by Raffaele Farina
Preceded by Albino Mensa	Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vercelli 4 June 1991–13 June 1995	Succeeded by Enrico Masseroni
Preceded by Alberto Bovone	Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 13 June 1995–10 December 2002	Succeeded by Angelo Amato SDB
Preceded by Dionigi Tettamanzi	Roman Catholic Archbishop of Genoa 10 December 2002–15 September 2006	Succeeded by Angelo Bagnasco
Preceded by Pio Laghi	Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Via Tuscolana pro hac vice Title 21 October 2003–10 May 2008	Succeeded by Paolo Sardi
Preceded by Angelo Sodano	President of Interdicasterial Commission on Particular Churches 15 September 2006–15 October 2013	Succeeded by Pietro Parolin
	President of Interdicasterial Commission for the Church in Eastern Europe 15 September 2006–15 October 2013
	Protector of Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy 15 September 2006–15 October 2013
Preceded by Eduardo Martínez Somalo	Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church 4 April 2007–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Alfonso López Trujillo	Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati 10 May 2008–present
Political offices
Preceded by Angelo Sodano	Cardinal Secretary of State 15 September 2006–15 October 2013	Succeeded by Pietro Parolin

Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 88563699 LCCN: n80010275 ISNI: 0000 0001 2282 7461 GND: 134071050 BNF: cb129316413

Persondata
Name	Bertone, Tarcisio
Alternative names
Short description	Catholic cardinal
Date of birth	2 December 1934
Place of birth	Romano Canavese, Piedmont, Italy
Date of death
Place of death