Antonio Quarracino

Antonio Quarracino (8 August 1923 – 28 February 1998) was an Argentine prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church in Argentina and the archbishop of Buenos Aires between 1990 and 1998.

His Eminence Antonio Quarracino
Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires
Church	Catholic
Archdiocese	Buenos Aires
Appointed	10 July 1990
Installed	22 November 1990
Term ended	28 February 1998
Predecessor	Juan Carlos Aramburu
Successor	Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Salute a Primavalle (1991‍–‍1998) Ordinary of the Ordinariate for the Faithful of the Eastern Rites in Argentina (1990‍–‍1998)
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Nueve de Julio (1962‍–‍1968) Bishop of Avellaneda (1968‍–‍1985) Secretary General of the Latin American Episcopal Council (1979‍–‍1983) President of the Latin American Episcopal Council (1983‍–‍1987) Archbishop of La Plata (1985‍–‍1990) President of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (1990‍–‍1996)
Orders
Ordination	22 December 1945 by Anunciado Serafini
Consecration	8 April 1962 by Anunciado Serafini
Created cardinal	28 June 1991 by Pope John Paul II
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	Antonio Quarracino (1923-08-08)8 August 1923 Pollica, Salerno, Kingdom of Italy
Died	28 February 1998(1998-02-28) (aged 74) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buried	Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral
Alma mater	San José Seminary
Motto	Ipsi gloria (Latin for 'To Him be the glory')
Coat of arms

Styles of Antonio Quarracino
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Buenos Aires

Ordination history of Antonio Quarracino
History Priestly ordination Date 22 December 1945 Episcopal consecration Principal consecrator Anunciado Serafini Co-consecrators Adolfo Servando Tortolo, Raúl Francisco Primatesta Date 8 April 1962 Cardinalate Elevated by Pope John Paul II Date 28 June 1991
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Antonio Quarracino as principal consecrator Alejo Benedicto Gilligan 4 October 1969 Rubén Héctor di Monte 16 August 1980 Norberto Eugenio Conrado Martina 9 December 1990 Héctor Rubén Aguer 4 April 1992 Rubén Oscar Frassia 4 April 1992 Jorge Mario Bergoglio 27 June 1992 Raúl Omar Rossi 27 June 1992 Pedro Luis Ronchino 19 March 1993 José Luis Mollaghan 2 October 1993 Francisco Polti Santillán 22 August 1994 Guillermo Rodríguez Melgarejo 27 September 1994

Biography

Early life and priesthood

Tomb in the metropolitan cathedral.

Quarracino was born in Pollica, Province of Salerno, Italy. His family emigrated to Argentina when he was 4 years old, settling in the town of San Andrés de Giles in the province of Buenos Aires.

Quarracino was ordained priest on 22 December 1945, and became a professor at the diocesan seminary of Mercedes. He also taught theology at the Universidad Católica Argentina.

Episcopate and cardinalate

Quarracino was appointed Bishop of Nueve de Julio, Buenos Aires, by Pope John XXIII, on 3 February 1962, and received the episcopal see on 8 April of the same year. He participated in all sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). On 3 August 1968 Paul VI moved him to the diocese of Avellaneda (whose new cathedral was built during his rule).

John Paul II promoted him to the Archdiocese of La Plata on 18 December 1985, and then on 10 July 1990 to the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, a see to which is attached the title of Primate of Argentina. He was elected to preside over the Argentine Episcopal Conference in the following November, and then reelected until 1996. He was elevated to Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria della Salute a Primavalle in consistory on 28 June 1991.

On 27 June 1992 he was the principal consecrator of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., later Pope Francis, as bishop.

Death

Quarracino died in 1998 at the age of 74 at the Otamendi Hospital, due to a cardiac arrest. His doctors announced that his death came due to complications following intestinal surgery on 21 February 1998. He was succeeded automatically by his coadjutor bishop, the Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Views

Inter-religious dialogue with Jews

Quarracino was a major figure of inter-religious discussion with Jews. During a visit to Israel in 1992 he was decorated by Jewish institutions for this cause, and in 1997 he had a mural painting set up in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and the bombings of the Israeli Embassy and the AMIA.

Social communications

Quarracino was inclined to journalism and, while in La Plata, he renewed the informative magazine of the archdiocese, transforming it into a full-fledged cultural publication. As Bishop of Buenos Aires, he appeared on TV regularly; he was in charge of a segment in a religious program (Claves para un mundo mejor) in the state-owned channel ATC.

Dirty War

Quarracino was outspoken about controversial topics. One of his first notable public statements was his support, in 1982, of a project of law that would end all investigation of the crimes of the Dirty War, in order to "contribute to national reconciliation". This can be seen as a precedent of the Ley de Punto Final, sanctioned in 1986.

Divorce

In 1990, Quarracino attracted controversy after criticizing a recently approved divorce law, saying that it had been the work of "Masonic influences" and that it also severely "weakened the Argentine people's traditional religious spirit".

Argentine politics

Quarracino was opposed to the policies of president Raúl Alfonsín (1983–1989) and accused politicians of corruption, as the cause of "national poverty". However, he acknowledged being a friend of president Carlos Menem (1989–1999) who was heavily criticized by other Church leaders (such as Cardinal Primatesta).

Homosexuality

In 1994, during his TV segment in ATC, Quarracino spoke against homosexuality saying that lesbians and gay men should be "locked up in a ghetto". This caused an accusation of discrimination, which was not considered by justice because anti-discrimination Law 23592 did not cover sexual orientation. Three years before he had termed homosexuality "a deviation of human nature, like bestiality".

Boca Juniors

The Cardinal was an avowed fan of the Boca Juniors football team. When he celebrated his 50 years of priesthood he received a Boca Juniors shirt signed by all the team members.

External links

• Catholic-Hierarchy.org
• Zenit Catholic News Agency
• Hoy magazine, La Plata, 1 March 1998.
• Bartolomé de Vedia [Bartholomew of Vedia] (1 March 1998). "Falleció Quarracino y asume Bergoglio en la arquidiócesis" [Quarracino dies and Bergoglio assumes the archdiocese]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 July 2012.