Rino Passigato, GCC, GCSE (born 29 March 1944) is an Italian prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, who was the

Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal The Apostolic Nunciature to the Republic of Portugal is an ecclesiastical office of the Catholic Church in Portugal. Wikipedia:SPS, Wikipedia:SPS, It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio with th ...

from 2008 to 2019 and is the current Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to Portugal.

Biography

Passigato was born on

Bovolone Bovolone is a town and a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southeast of Verona. Bovolone borders the following municipalities: Cerea, Concamarise, Isola dell ...

, Italy, on 29 March 1944. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1968 in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, Italy.

Diplomatic career

In 1991 he was appointed

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Nova Caesaris and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Burundi. By 1996 he was Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia and in 1999 he moved on to

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. On 8 November 2008,

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 soverei ...

appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal. He also served in the Apostolic Nunciature in Australia in the late 1970s and in the United Kingdom under Apostolic Nuncio Barbaroto.

Portugal

Criticism

The criticism started shortly after he started his tenure in Portugal and refused to disclose his criteria for the selection of new potential candidates for bishops to the

Episcopal Conference of Portugal The Portuguese Episcopal Conference ( pt, Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa) is a collective body of the national church and the administration of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal. The Portuguese Episcopal Conference performs certain pastoral ...

. Passagiato was accused by the Portuguese catholic clergy of taking "deplorable" and "inhumane" decisions regarding the affairs of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

in Portugal. Portuguese bishops and clergy accused Passagiato of favouring bishops candidates who are "traditionalists" and "career oriented", and of "not listening to people".

= António Francisco dos Santos case

António Francisco dos Santos António Francisco dos Santos (21 February 1948 – 11 September 2017) was a Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * ...

was Bishop of Aveiro until 2014. Following the appointment of

Manuel Clemente Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, GCC (; born 16 July 1948), officially Manuel III, is a Portuguese prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been the Metropolitan Patriarch of Lisbon since 18 May 2013 and a cardinal since 14 February ...

to the

Patriarchate of Lisbon The Patriarchate of Lisbon ( la, Patriarchatus Olisiponensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or patriarchal archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Its archiepiscopal see is the Patriarchal Cathedral of ...

, Passigato decided, in a nine-month lengthy process, to relocate Bishop dos Santos to

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in order to substitute Bishop Clemente. The suggestion of Bishop dos Santos, made to Pope, was resisted, in the beginning, by the appointee and shortly before his appointment was made official two priests from Aveiro appealed to Passigato's piety due to the poor heart condition of Bishop dos Santos who himself feared not being capable of heading a bigger diocese. Bishop dos Santos would die 3 years after his appointment to Porto due to

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

= João Lavrador case

= João Lavrador, current

Bishop of Angra The Roman Catholic diocese of Angra ( pt, Diocese de Angra, la, Dioecesis Angrensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The see is located in Angra do Heroísmo, in the Terceira island. The current O ...

, also pleaded Nuncio Passigato for his piety to not be appointed as bishop at the time in order to be able to assist his bedridden parents. Passigato refused such plead and had Lavrador appointed as bishop in 2015; shortly afterward his father died in April 2016 and his mother in January 2017. In this regard Passigato was accused of not taking into consideration Catholic family values.

Honours

Grand Cross of the Order of Christ of the

Portuguese Republic Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the ...

(11 March 2010).Portuguese Presidency Website, Order
search form
: type "Joan-Enric Vives i" in "nome", then click "Pesquisar" * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Cross BAR

PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross of the Order of Saint James of the Sword of the

(6 June 2009).

References

External links

Archbishop Rino Passigato at Catholic Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Passigato, Rino 1944 births Living people People from Bovolone 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Apostolic Nuncios to Portugal Apostolic Nuncios to Peru Apostolic Nuncios to Burundi Apostolic Nuncios to Bolivia 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops