Alfredo Zecca
Alfredo Horacio Zecca (born September 27, 1949) is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church He served as archbishop of Tucumán from 2011 to 2017, when he resigned for reasons of health.
Life
Zecca was born in Buenos Aires, and ordained to the priesthood on November 19, 1976.
He was named a consultor to the Congregation for Catholic Education on January 29, 2005,[1] and a member of that Congregation on June 12, 2012.[2]
On June 10, 2011, he was appointed Archbishop of Tucumán following the retirement of Archbishop Luis Héctor Villalba.[3]
Zecca received his episcopal consecration on August 11 from Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio (later Pope Francis), Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Serving as co-consecrators were Estanislao Esteban Cardinal Karlic, archbishop emeritus of Paraná, Eduardo Vicente Mirás, archbishop emeritus of Rosario, Luis Héctor Villalba, archbishop emeritus of Tucumán, and Ariel Edgardo Torrado Mosconi, auxiliary bishop of Santiago del Estero. He was installed in Tucumán on September 17, 2011.
Zecca met with Pope Francis in February 2017 and submitted his resignation on 19 March. Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop for reasons of health on 9 June 2017 at the age of 67, assigning him the titular see of Bolsena.[4] Rather than allowing him to become Archbishop emeritus, as is normal in cases of retirement, he was assigned the titular see of Bolsena and remains an active bishop.[5] According to some reports, Pope Francis removed Zecca not for health reasons but because he had accepted the government authorities' ruling of suicide in the case of a priest who had been a longtime campaigner against drug traffickers found hanged on 5 October 2016.[4][6]
References
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 29.01.2005" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. January 29, 2005.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 12.06.2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. June 12, 2012.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 10.06.2011" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. June 10, 2011.
- ^ a b "El Papa Francisco aceptó la renuncia de Zecca". La Gaceta (in Spanish). 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 09.06.2017" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. June 9, 2017.
- ^ Lamb, Christopher (19 June 2017). "Nice guy or tough guy? The two faces of Pope Francis". Religion News Service. Retrieved 20 June 2017.