Pietro Fumasoni Biondi

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cardinal name=Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
relstyle=Cardinal
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Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi (September 4, 1872—July 12, 1960) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in the Roman Curia from 1933 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1933.

Biography

Pietro Fumasoni Biondi was born in Rome to the aristocratic Filippo and Gertrude (née Roselli) Fumasoni Biondi; he had a sister who entered the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and became known as Mother Gertrude [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745362-2,00.html Red Hats] March 20, 1933] . After studying at the Pontifical Roman Seminary, he was ordained to the priesthood by Lucido Cardinal Parocchi on April 17, 1897. From 1897 to 1916, he was a professor at the Pontifical Urbaniana University and then an official of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

On November 14, 1916, Biondi was appointed Apostolic Delegate to the East Indies and Titular Archbishop of "Doclea". He received his episcopal consecration on the following December 10 from Domenico Cardinal Serafini, OSB, with Bishops Joseph Legrand, CSC, and Agostino Zampini, OSA, serving as co-consecrators, in the chapel of the Urbaniana University. In this post, he actively tried to improve relations between the Vatican and the Emperor of Japan [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846449,00.html Apostolic Delegate] March 10, 1923] . Biondi was later named Apostolic Delegate to Japan on December 6, 1919, Secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith on June 14, 1921, and Apostolic Delegate to the United States on December 14, 1922. In 1927, he declared the Vatican had no interest in Catholic governor of New York Al Smith's presidential campaign [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745362-2,00.html Red Hats] March 20, 1933] .

Pope Pius XI created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Croce in Gerusalemme" in the consistory of March 13, 1933, in advance for his appointment as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith three days later, on March 16. The Cardinal served as papal legate to the National Eucharistic Congress in Teramo on August 20, 1935. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1939 papal conclave, and again in the conclave of 1958.

Biondi died in Rome, at age 87. He is buried in the Campo di Verano cemetery.

References

External links

* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-f.htm#Fumasoni Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bfuma.html Catholic-Hierarchy]