Luigi Bettazzi

Luigi Bettazzi (26 November 1923 – 16 July 2023) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was bishop of Ivrea from 1966 to 1999. One of the youngest and most junior participants in the Second Vatican Council, he was one of the original signatories of the Pact of the Catacombs.

His Excellency

Luigi Bettazzi
Bishop Emeritus of Ivrea
Bettazzi in 2015
ArchdioceseTurin
Appointed26 November 1966
Term ended20 February 1999
PredecessorAlbino Mensa
SuccessorArrigo Miglio
Orders
Ordination4 August 1946
by Giovanni Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano
Consecration4 October 1963
by Giacomo Lercaro
Personal details
Born(1923-11-26)26 November 1923
Treviso, Italy
Died16 July 2023(2023-07-16) (aged 99)
Albiano d'Ivrea, Italy
Previous post(s)Auxiliary Bishop of Bologna and Titular Bishop of Thagaste (1963–1966)
Styles of
Luigi Bettazzi
Reference style
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleBishop

Early life

Bettazzi was born on 26 November 1923[1] in Treviso, the third of seven children; his father was an engineer in Turin. He entered the minor seminary before he was ten years old and then studied philosophy and theology at the Gregorian University in Rome before earning a degree in philosophy at the University of Bologna.[2] He was ordained a priest on 4 August 1946 by Giovanni Cardinal Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano of Bologna.[3] He taught at the seminary in Bologna.[2]

Bishop

Pope Paul VI named him an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Bologna and titular bishop of Thagaste on 10 August 1963.[4] He became vicar general of the Archdiocese of Bologna on 1 September 1963 and received his episcopal consecration on 4 October 1963 from Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro of Bologna,[5] who was one of the four bishops who served as moderators of the Second Vatican Council.[6]

Bettazzi was the most recently created bishop of the Catholic Church and one of the youngest bishops when, on 11 October 1963, he spoke at the second session of the Second Vatican Council on the subject of collegiality. In 2012 he explained his view of the subject: "Once they are consecrated, bishops share with the pope a responsibility for the whole church. This has a rock-solid theological tradition that is often ignored. Collegiality can make the papacy more efficacious rather than weaken it. Papal decisions would be more acceptable if more participation by fellow bishops was involved."[2] Yves Congar described Bettazzi's contributions to the debate as "given at great speed and with fire", calling for clearly expressing "the idea that consecration confers all the powers and that it brings the bishop into the episcopal body" or collegium and does not depend upon any papal action.[7] It met with applause.[8]

On 16 November 1965, he joined 41 other bishops in signing the Pact of the Catacombs, promising in "housing, food and means of transportation to live in accordance with the ordinary manner of our people" and to "renounce forever wealth and the appearance thereof". More than 500 of their peers soon joined them. Bettazzi nevertheless lived in the bishop's residence in Ivrea but never wore the ring Pope Paul VI gave to each Council participant, calling it "ostentatious".[9]

Bettazzi was made bishop of Ivrea in 1966.[2] He was president of the Italian branch of Pax Christi from 1968 to 1975 and served as president of Pax Christi International from 1978 to 1985, accepting for the organization at the end of his term UNESCO's Peace Education prize.[2][10] He retired from his position in Ivrea upon the appointment of his successor on 20 February 1999.[11]

Retirement and death

In retirement he expressed his view of what the Council represented: "The council endorsed continuity with the basic doctrines of the church but also meant pastoral discontinuity—adoption of new approaches for new circumstances. The anxiety over doctrinal integrity has produced half-heartedness about pastoral initiatives."[2] Having known Pope Benedict XVI since the 1960s, he thought his resignation possible a year before it occurred, saying "I wish him a long life and lasting lucidity but I think that, if the moment arrives when he sees that things are changing, I think he has the courage to resign."[12]

In 2007 he endorsed a proposal of the Italian government to establish legal recognition for same-sex relationships called civil unions.[13] Speaking of homosexuality in April 2015, he said that "the question of sex must be studied, emancipating ourselves from the neo-Platonists who identified sex with spiritual decadence. Why not an expression of the human spirit?"[14]

Bettazzi was made an honorary citizen of Bologna in 2016.[5] Bettazzi was the last living of the original signatories to the signed Pact of the Catacombs.[15][16] He was also the last surviving Italian bishop who participated in the Second Vatican Council.[17] In retirement, he lived in Bologna.[18] Bettazzi died in Albiano d'Ivrea on 16 July 2023, at age 99.[19][20]

References
  1. "Letzter europäischer Konzilsvater Bettazzi gestorben" [Last European Council Father Bettazzi Died]. Vatican News (in German). 16 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  2. Bettazzi, Luigi (18 December 2012). "The Spirit Is Still on the Job". Commonweal (Interview). Interviewed by Desmond O'Grady. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  3. "Una messa a Bologna per ricordare i 75 anni di ordinazione sacerdotale di monsignor Bettazzi". La Guida (in Italian). 4 August 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  4. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LVI. 1964. p. 865. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  5. "Bologna: a mons. Luigi Bettazzi la cittadinanza onoraria" (in Italian). AgenSIR. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  6. O'Malley 2008, p. 167-70.
  7. Congar, Yves (2012). My Journal of the Council. Liturgical Press. pp. 366, 374. ISBN 9780814680292.
  8. Bettazzi, Luigi (4 August 2020). "Intervista. Bettazzi: «Francesco, figlio del Vaticano II»". Avvenire (Interview) (in Italian). Interviewed by Filippo Rizzi. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  9. Wooden, Cindy. "Back to the catacombs: New emphasis placed on bishops' simplicity pact". The Catholic Register. Catholic News Service. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  10. Bertolone, Emanuela (17 April 2018). "Monsignor Bettazzi a Biella testimone del "dialogo"". La Stampa (in Italian). Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  11. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XCI. 1999. p. 406. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  12. Hornby, Catherine (13 February 2013). "Benedict - a resignation foretold, if you knew where to look". Reuters. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  13. "Bettazzi, ex vescovo di Ivrea "Repulisti dentro la Chiesa"". La Repubblica (in Italian). 25 February 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  14. Bettazzi, Luigi (7 April 2015). "«Comunione ai divorziati e gay, la Chiesa affronti le nuove sfide»". La Stampa (Interview) (in Italian). Interviewed by Bruno Quaranta. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  15. Poggioli, Sylvia. "Pope Francis' Emphasis On Poverty Revives The 'Pact of The Catacombs'". NPR. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  16. Ferrone, Rita (23 July 2021). "A Living Catholic Tradition: Pope Francis unifies the Roman Rite". Commonweal. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  17. "A monsignor Luigi Bettazzi la cittadinanza onoraria di Bologna". La Repubblica (in Italian). 4 April 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  18. Agasso Jr., Domenico (1 October 2017). ""If a congregation loses all its assets, I thank God"". La Stampa. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  19. "Lutto. È morto monsignor Bettazzi, costruttore di pace". Avvenire. 16 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  20. Allen, John L. Jr. (17 July 2023). "Prophet-Bishop of the 'Poor Church for the Poor' dies just shy of 100". Crux. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
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