Raúl Francisco Primatesta (April 14, 1919 – May 1, 2006) was a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Emeritus of

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

Biography

Primatesta was born in Capilla del Señor, Exaltación de la Cruz,

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He was ordained priest in 1942 and elected

titular bishop 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 ''Tanais'' and appointed

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

on June 14, 1957 and became its

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

. On June 12, 1961 he was appointed first bishop of

Diocese of San Rafael The Diocese of San Rafael () is a Roman Catholic diocese in San Rafael, Argentina. It came into existence on 10 April 1961. Bishops Past and present ordinaries * Raúl Francisco Primatesta (1961–1965), appointed Archbishop of Córdoba (Cardi ...

, Mendoza, and four years later on February 16, 1965 he became

Metropolitan archbishop Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

. Since 1970 he was part of the ruling body of the

Argentine Episcopal Conference The Argentine Episcopal Conference () is an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Argentina that gathers the bishops of the country in order to discuss pastoral issues and in general all matters that have to do with the Church. The followi ...

, which he presided on four occasions. Primatesta was elevated to

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

of Santa Maria Addolorata a Piazza Buenos Aires on March 5, 1973 by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul 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 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. He participated in the conclaves that elected popes

John Paul I Pope John Paul I (born Albino Luciani; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal h ...

and

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1978. As required when he turned 75 in 1994 he presented his resignation, but John Paul II accepted it only in 1998. Primatesta continued presiding the Social Pastoral Commission of the Episcopal Conference until 2002. Primatesta suffered from a chronic heart condition. He underwent heart surgery in 1995 and had to have blocks removed from two arteries in January 2005. In April 2005 he had to be hospitalized for two weeks. He died during the first hours of May 1, 2006, at the age of 87, in his private home in Córdoba, after a complication of his cardiovascular condition. His funeral was conducted in the Cathedral of Córdoba, where he was then buried. The provincial government decreed three days of mourning.

Political involvement

Cardinal Primatesta was considered very influential in the internal workings of the Argentine Church and its relationship to the national government. He was linked to top figures of the military dictatorship of the '' Proceso''; after its downfall in 1983 he defended the stance of the Catholic hierarchy at the time, and opposed institutional self-criticism for it, which the Church only started after Primatesta lost his dominant position. Bishop Emeritus of Morón, Justo Laguna, called Primatesta "a man of little commitment" (''un hombre de jugarse poco'') and noted that the Cardinal never took a clear position on the issue of Bishop

Enrique Angelelli Enrique Ángel Angelelli Carletti (17 July 1923 – 4 August 1976) was a bishop of the Catholic Church in Argentina who was assassinated during the Dirty War for his involvement with social issues. Angelelli commitment to the "Church of the Po ...

's murder in 1976. María Elba Martínez, a human rights advocate and lawyer, stated after the Cardinal's death that "Primatesta took a large part of the truth bout the dictatorshipto his grave, mainly about the ''

desaparecidos An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

'', the kidnapping of children and the complicity of the ecclesiastic hierarchy with the dictatorship, with the goal of dismembering or weakening the Third World movements of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

". Martínez further said that Primatesta "was useful" to the military, and that he had "named people" for them. During the 1990s, Cardinal Primatesta was a strong critic of the

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

policies of President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

(1989–1999), whom he charged with leaving behind a massive amount of poverty. While in charge of the Social Pastoral Commission he asked for a "social agreement" to overcome the economic crisis of Argentina, and organized discussion meetings for union leaders, businessmen and government representatives. Primatesta mediated also on many social conflicts, including cases where unemployed families took the Cathedral of Córdoba. On a different note, the Cardinal defended the position of the Church on

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

to the point of denouncing Córdoba Governor

Ramón Mestre Ramón Bautista Mestre (August 21, 1937 – March 6, 2003), an Argentine politician, was Governor of Córdoba from July 12, 1995, to July 12, 1999. He also served as Federal Interventor of Corrientes Province (December 16, 1999, to March 20, 2 ...

at the top of his voice for a provincial health program that included handing out

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...

s near the seat of the Archbishopric.

References

* ''La Nación'', 1 May 2006
''Murió el Cardenal Primatesta''
. * ''Clarín'', 1 May 2006

* ''Página/12'', 2 May 2006

* Diario de Cuyo, 2 May 2006
''El adiós para un cura polémico''

Raúl Primatesta - Capilla del Señor (Spanish)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Primatesta, Raul Francisco 1919 births 2006 deaths People from Buenos Aires Province Argentine people of Italian descent Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Argentine cardinals 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Argentina Participants in the Second Vatican Council Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI Roman Catholic archbishops of Córdoba Roman Catholic bishops of La Plata in Argentina Roman Catholic bishops of San Rafael