Giovanni Battista Re

Cardinal Re

Giovanni Battista Re (born 30 January 1934) is an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church whose service has been primarily in the Roman Curia. He is the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001. He retired as Prefect on 30 June 2010, having turned 75 (the age at which prelates must submit their resignations to the Pope), and was succeeded by the Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada, Marc Ouellet, P.S.S.

Biography

Early life and ordination

Born in Borno, Italy, and ordained a priest by Archbishop Giacinto Tredici in Brescia on 3 March 1957, Re has been a member of the Roman Curia since 1963. He elevated to monsignor the next year and served in various diplomatic positions before being named both bishop of the titular see of Forum Novum and Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops on 9 October 1987. Pope John Paul II administered the episcopal consecration one month later, on 7 November.

Secretariat of State

On 12 December 1989, he was transferred to become Sostituto for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, one of the key positions under the Cardinal Secretary of State. In this position he became known as one of the most influential men at the Vatican, though his position was of too low rank for him to be named a cardinal; there was unfounded speculation that he was one of the two men named secretly (in pectore) as cardinals in the consistory of 1998.^{[citation needed]}

Styles of Giovanni Battista Re
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Congregation for Bishops

He was named on 16 September 2000 to head the Congregation for Bishops and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Re became Cardinal-Priest of Ss. XII Apostoli in the consistory held 21 February named first among all those elevated. The next year, on 1 October, he was named Cardinal Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto when a vacancy arose in that order.

Since all major Vatican officials automatically lose their positions during a sede vacante, Re too lost his position as Prefect on 2 April 2005 upon the death of John Paul II. He was later confirmed to office by Pope Benedict XVI on 21 April 2005. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.^{[citation needed]}

Curial memberships

Re is a member of various offices of the Curia. In May 2008, Pope Benedict named Cardinal Re as a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. He is also a member and therefore attends weekly meetings of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in addition to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See. He will hold these memberships until his 80th birthday.

Views

Temperament

Insiders describe him as a friend of Carlo Maria Martini, who has played a major role in the dissent against the last three Popes. As leader of the Congregation for Bishops, Re reportedly appointed several bishops in Germany, France and elsewhere, who opposed some of the stances of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Lincoln excommunications

In 1996, American bishop Fabian Bruskewitz gained national attention for asserting that local Catholics who are members of several associations thought to be "totally incompatible with the Catholic Faith" would incur automatic excommunication. These groups include Call to Action and its Nebraska affiliate, Call to Action Nebraska, the family planning provider Planned Parenthood and its affiliate Catholics for a Free Choice, the Freemasons and their affiliate organizations, Job's Daughters, DeMolay, Eastern Star and Rainbow Girls, and the pro-euthanasia Hemlock Society (now renamed Compassion & Choices). His pronouncement was appealed to Rome, but in 2006 the ruling was upheld by Cardinal Re, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

Response to Stanisław Wielgus Scandal

Re, who assists the pope in deciding the future careers of the clergy as Prefect of Bishops, said that, "When Monsignor Wielgus was nominated, we did not know anything about his collaboration with the secret services."^{[citation needed]}

Society of Saint Pius X

In January 2009, he published a decree removing the excommunications from the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. He later expressed regret over the move after the controversy on the comments of Bishop Richard Williamson. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos has argued that if anyone in the Vatican should have known about Williamson's negationist views, it was not himself but rather Cardinal Re, due to the fact that Re is responsible for the Congregation of Bishops, which oversees information about bishops and prelates.

Brazilian abortion

In 2009, Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda and Recife stated that the automatic excommunication decreed by canon 1398 had been incurred by the mother and the doctors who had an abortion performed on a 9-year-old girl who was four months pregnant with twin fetuses resulting from abuse by her stepfather. The doctors argued the girl was so small that her uterus did not have the ability to contain one child let alone two. Those under sixteen years of age are not subject to any ecclesiastical censures such as excommunication, still less to automatic (latae sententiae) censures, and so canon 1398 did not apply to the girl herself.

Health Minister José Gomes Temporão criticized the Church's position as "extreme, radical and inadequate", and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also denounced it. Cardinal Re defended the archbishop's statement, commenting: "It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated. Life must always be protected. The attack on the Brazilian church is unjustified."

References

Preceded by Lucas Moreira Neves	Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops 9 October 1987–12 December 1989	Succeeded by Justin Francis Rigali
Preceded by Lucas Moreira Neves	Secretary of the College of Cardinals 9 October 1987–12 December 1989	Succeeded by Justin Francis Rigali
Preceded by Edward Idris Cassidy	Substitute for General Affairs 12 December 1989–16 September 2000	Succeeded by Leonardo Sandri
Preceded by Lucas Moreira Neves	Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops 16 September 2000–30 June 2010	Succeeded by Marc Ouellet, PSS
Preceded by Lucas Moreira Neves	President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America 16 September 2000–30 June 2010	Succeeded by Marc Ouellet, PSS