Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...
province of Parma
The Province of Parma ( it, Provincia di Parma) is a province in the Emilia–Romagna region of Italy. Its largest town and capital is the city of Parma.
It is made up of 47 '' comuni''. It has an area of and a total population of around 450, ...
. He was educated at the Episcopal Seminary of Fidenza and the
Pontifical Gregorian University
The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school (pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy.
The Gregorian originated as ...
in Rome, where he completed a doctorate in
Canon law
Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
. He was ordained a priest on 2 July 1961 in Rome.
Beginning in 1965, he taught moral theology in the seminaries of Fidenza and Parma and later at the ''Studio Teologico Accademico Bolognese'', the Università Cattolica in Milan, and at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy. His academic specialty was the moral doctrine of marriage and the bioethics of human procreation. He also taught medical ethics in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the Università Cattolica's campus in Rome.
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augu ...
named him a member of the
International Theological Commission The International Theological Commission (ITC) is a body of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church; it advises the magisterium of the church, particularly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Its m ...
where he served from 1974 to 1984. In 1980,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
named him an expert advisor to the Synod of Bishops on Marriage and the Family. He was the first President of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family from its establishment in 1980 until 1995 and founded sections of the same institute in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
, Spain and Mexico. John Paul II appointed him a consultor to the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible f ...
in 1983. He was an advisor to John Paul II on sexual issues.
Bishop
Caffarra was named Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio on 8 September 1995, and consecrated on 21 October 1995 in the Cathedral of Fidenza by Giacomo Biffi, Archbishop of Bologna. He was installed on 4 November.
Caffarra was appointed Archbishop of the Bologna on 16 December 2003 and installed there on 15 February 2004.
Caffarra was a noted opponent of
contraception
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
. In 1988, Caffarra weighed the sin of condom use against acquiring the AIDS virus: "Even the smallest moral wrong is so much greater than any physical wrong. I know this is hard for some to accept when the dangers are great, but the Church is here to combat moral wrongs." The next year, Caffarra argued condom campaigns further exposed society to AIDS because "the means of protection are far from reliable".
On 24 August 2005 Caffarra held the central intervention "Freedom as liberation" at the annual Rimini Meeting of
Communion and Liberation
Communion and Liberation (Italian: Comunione e Liberazione, often shortened to CL) is an International Catholic movement founded in 1954 by Fr. Luigi Giussani. The official name is the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. Its aim is to pres ...
. Subsequently, he and
Marcello Pera
Marcello Pera (; born 28 January 1943 .) is an Italian Ratzinger's book ''L'Europa di Benedetto nella crisi delle culture''.
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship.
Congregation may also refer to:
*Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship
*Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...
and the Executive Committee of the
Pontifical Council for the Family
The Pontifical Council for the Family was a pontifical council of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church from 1981 to 2016. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio ''Familia a Deo Instituta'', replacing the Com ...
. He was identified at the time as "a strong conservative" voice for the opposition of the Catholic Church to the modern world and one of Benedict XVI's less centrist appointments to the
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...
.
In a note Caffarra published on 14 February 2010, he wrote "public officials who openly support same-sex marriage cannot consider themselves to be Catholic". He said: "It is impossible for the Catholic faith and support for putting homosexual unions on equal footing with marriage to coexist in one's conscience – the two contradict each other."
He participated as a cardinal elector in the
2013 papal conclave
The 2013 papal conclave was convened to elect a pope to succeed Pope Benedict XVI following his resignation on 28 February 2013. After the 115 participating cardinal-electors gathered, they set 12 March 2013 as the beginning of the conclave. O ...
that elected
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
.
Pope Francis named him to participate in the Synod on the Family in October 2014, in advance of which Caffarra authored an essay that argued that Catholics who divorce and remarry must be denied access to the Eucharist because their situation "is in objective contradiction with that bond of love that unites Christ and the Church, which is signified and actualized by the Eucharist". Allowing them access would mean the Church recognize their extramarital sexual relations as legitimate and contradict Church doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage. When accused of opposing Pope Francis with that essay, he called the statement a "slander" and said he would rather be charged with taking a lover than harboring views not shared by the pope.
On 26 September 2015, Pope Francis appointed Caffarra to a five-year term as a member of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pas ...
.
His resignation as archbishop was accepted on 27 October 2015.
In September 2016, Caffarra and three other cardinals publicly asked Pope Francis to clarify five points of doctrine in the Pope's apostolic exhortation, ''
Amoris laetitia
''Amoris laetitia'' (''The Joy of Love'') is a post- synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of families. Dated 19 March 2016, it was released on 8 April 2016. It follows the Synods on the Family held in 201 ...
''. They issued this public letter after the Pope did not reply to the same query made privately. In June 2017, Caffarra wrote on behalf of the four asking Francis for an audience to discuss their questions. He said that varying interpretations were producing inconsistency: "What is sin in Poland is good in Germany, that what is prohibited in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is permitted in Malta."
Caffarra died on 6 September 2017 after a long illness.