Cardinal Achille Silvestrini (Ansa)

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August 29, 2019 Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, died this morning in the Vatican. He was 95 years old. Born in Brisighella (Ravenna) in 1923, Silvestrini was ordained a priest in 1946. In 1953 he entered the service of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, where he dealt with relations with
Southeast Asia. He was one of the main collaborators of Cardinal Agostino Casaroli. Created cardinal in the consistory of 28 June 1988, in 1991 he was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. Office he held until his resignation resigned in 2000 due to age limits.

A life spent at the service of the Church and the Pope. Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, always attentive to people, with an eye to young people, before the documents, has carried out diplomatic duties for the Holy See for decades with scrupulousness and rigor. Close collaborator of the state secretaries Domenico Tardini and Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, travels - among other things - with the then Archbishop Agostino Casaroli during the Ostpolitik period and leads the negotiations with the Italian authorities for the revision of the Lateran Concordat.

In the diplomatic service of the Section for extraordinary ecclesiastical affairs of the Secretariat of State, he deals with Vietnam, China, Indonesia and, in general, South-East Asia. From 1958 to 1969 he was among the collaborators of the secretaries of State Domenico Tardini and Amleto Giovanni Cicognani. Returning to the Council for Church public affairs, new name taken by the Section for extraordinary ecclesiastical affairs, he is in charge of the international organizations Sector (peace, disarmament and human rights). In 1971 he accompanied Archbishop Agostino Casaroli on his visit to Moscow, to deposit the instrument of adhesion of the Holy See to the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. In 1972 he was appointed deputy-delegate to the Helsinki consultations in preparation for the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, participating subsequently, in Helsinki and Geneva, in all phases of the Conference. In 1977 he was the deputy head of delegation to the Belgrade Meeting, for the verification and development of the Helsinki final act.

In July 1973 he was appointed Undersecretary of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church, where he assumed the role of secretary on 4 May 1979. Promoted to the episcopate with the archbishopric of Novaliciana, he received the ordination on 27 May from St. John Paul II . The new assignment led him to lead from 1979 the delegation of the Holy See for the revision of the Lateran Concordat, negotiations conducted with the Italian authorities until the signing of the Agreement of 18 February 1984. Countless diplomatic missions carried out during those years: representative of the Holy See in Madrid at the meeting on security and cooperation in Europe (1980-83); sent to Malta (1981); in Buenos Aires, for the Malvinas-Falklands crisis (1982); in Nicaragua and El Salvador (1983); in Poland (1983); in Stockholm, as head of the delegation of the Holy See to the inaugural session of the Conference on disarmament in Europe (1984); in Helsinki, for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the final act of the Conference for security and cooperation in Europe; again in Malta, for the definition of an agreement on Church schools (1985); in Lebanon and Syria (1986); still in Poland (1987).

It is always Saint John Paul II who created him cardinal, in the consistory of June 28, 1988, of St. Benedict outside Porta San Paolo, an event that precedes by three days the appointment as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. From 24 May 1991 to 25 November 2000 he held the position of prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. In the priestly ministry he carried out an action among the young at "Villa Nazareth", an institution created in 1945 by Cardinal Tardini. Since 1969, he has animated a "Community" founded by a group of graduate students, professionals and friends of Villa Nazareth. From this, in 1986, the "Domenico Tardini Community" Foundation was born, which is entrusted by the Sacred Family Foundation of Nazareth with the responsibility for training and management activities. Cardinal Silvestrini holds the role of president of both foundations.

Cardinal Achille Silvestrini was a non-voter. With his death the College of Cardinals is composed as follows: 215 cardinals in total, of which 118 electors and 97 non-voters.