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Achille Silvestrini

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Silvestrini in November 2006

Achille Silvestrini (25 October 1923 – 29 August 2019) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served in the Vatican diplomatic corps, either in Rome or abroad, from 1953 to 1990. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from 1991 to 2000. He was born in Brisighella, Italy.

Silvestrini was ordained a priest on 13 July 1946 in the cathedral of Faenza by Giuseppe Battaglia, Bishop of Faenza. He earned a doctorate at the University of Bologna in 1948 and a doctorate in canon and civil law at the Pontifical Lateran University.[1]

As of 2016, Silvestrini was chair of the Collegio universitario Fondazione Comunità Domenico Tardini, which was founded in 1946 to support war orphans.[2][3]

In the 1990s, Silvestrini was mentioned as a successor to Pope John Paul II in the secular press,[4] though Vatican observers noted that his advanced age made his election unlikely.

Silvestrini died in Vatican City on 29 August 2019 at the age of 95.[5][6]

References

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  1. "Biography: Silvestrini Card. Achille". Press Office of the Holy See. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  2. "Pope's Q-and-A at Villa Nazareth". Zenit. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  3. San Martín, Inés (19 June 2016). "Pope says 'martyrdom, not 'genocide,' is the best word". CRUX. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  4. Reese, Thomas J. (1996). Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. Harvard University Press. p. 94. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  5. Castelli, Barbara (29 August 2019). "E' morto oggi a Roma il cardinale Achille Silvestrini". Vatican News (in Italian). Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  6. Cardinale, Gianni (29 August 2019). "Addio a Silvestrini, uno dei protagonist della diplomazia vaticana". Avvenire (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.

Other websites

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