Ugo Poletti

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Ugo Cardinal Poletti
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Rome (vicariate) |

Ugo Cardinal Poletti (April 19, 1914—February 25, 1997) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vicar General of Rome from 1973 to 1991, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1973.

Biography

Born in Omegna, Ugo Poletti studied at the seminary in Novara before being ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1938. He then served as vice-rector of theological seminary and bursar of the general diocesan seminary in Novara until 1946. After a period of pastoral work from 1946 to 1951, Poletti was made Pro-Vicar General of Novara in 1954, and later a Protonotary Apostolic on June 16, 1955.

On July 12, 1958, Poletti was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Novara and Titular Bishop of Medeli. He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 14 from Archbishop Vincenzo Gremigni, MSC, with Bishops Mario Longo Dorni and Francesco Brustia serving as co-consecrators. Poletti attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and was later named Archbishop of Spoleto on June 26, 1967. Pope Paul VI made him Titular Archbishop of Aemona and Second Vicegerent of Rome on July 3, 1969, and then Pro-Vicar General of Rome on October 13, 1972.

Poletti was created Cardinal Priest of "Ss. Ambrogio e Carlo" by Pope Paul in the consistory of March 5, 1973, in advance for his appointment as Vicar General of Rome, and also Archpriest of the Lateran Basilica, on March 26 of that same year. As Vicar General, Poletti administered the Diocese of Rome in the name of the Pope, who officially holds the title of Bishop of Rome. One of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, Poletti is believed to have received up to thirty votes during a ballot of the latter conclave ["TIME "Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912229-4,00.html A "Foreign" Pope] October 30, 1978] . Earlier, in July 1976, the newsletter "Bulletin de l'Occident Chrétien" had claimed that Poletti himself, among other high-ranking Church officials, was a Freemason, having been initiated on February 17, 1969, with the Masonic code name of "Upo". According to David Yallop, in his 1984 novel "In God's Name", it was because of these alleged Masonic connections that Pope John Paul I had planned on appointing Poletti as Archbishop of Florence [Yallop, David. "In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I". Carrol & Graff, 2007.] . From 1985 to 1991, he was President of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

Upon his resignation as Cardinal Vicar on January 17, 1991, he was made Archpriest of the Liberian Basilica. In that same year, he allegedly authorized the internment of gangster Enrico De Pedis in the crypt of St. Apollinare’s Church in Rome [The Italian Almanac. [http://italianalmanac.org/05oct/renatino.htm The Tomb of the Gangster] October 5, 1991] , almost as if to pay money to charity be enough to cancel a life lived by gangster until the end.

The Cardinal died from a heart attack in Rome [Catholic World News. [http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=4370 Cardinal Poletti, Former Rome Vicar, Dies at 83] February 26, 1997] , for whose poor he showed deep compassion [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919865-7,00.html The September Pope] October 9, 1978] , at age 82. He is buried in the chapel of San Lucia in the Liberian Basilica.

Trivia

*Poletti suffered from erysipelas [Ibid.] .
*He was also President of Pontifical Mission Aid Societies (1964-1967), a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and was President of Pontifical Works and of the Liturgical Academy.

References

External links

* [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19970227_en.html Vatican]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bpolettiu.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-p.htm#Poletti Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]