- Raffaele Farina
infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Raffaele Cardinal Farina
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=none|Raffaele Cardinal Farina, SDB (born
24 September ,1933 ) is an Italian Cardinal of theRoman Catholic Church . He currently serves as Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and Librarian of the Vatican Library, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2007.Biography
Born in
Buonalbergo , Raffaele Farina entered the Congregation of St. Francis of Sales of St. John Bosco, more commonly known as the Salesians, at the Novitiate of Portici Bellavista at the age of sixteen. He professed on25 September ,1949 , and made his perpetual vows on25 September ,1954 ; one of his sisters is also a Salesian. Farina began his studies intheology at the Pontifical Salesian Athenaeum ofTurin in 1954 as well, obtaining his licentiate in theology from the Athenaeum in 1958. He was ordained to the priesthood byMaurilio Cardinal Fossati , OSsCG, on1 July ,1958 .Farina later studied ecclesiastical history at thePontifical Gregorian University inRome , and received hisdoctorate in 1965. For the following three years, he worked on his specialization at the German Foundation "Humboldt" inFreiburg andBonn . From 1968 to1972 , he wasProfessor of History of the Church (covering the origin to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D.) and ofMethodology in the Theological Faculty of the Pontifical Salesian University; he then served as dean of the same faculty until 1974, and wasrector of the university for two terms (1977-1983, 1992-1997).Farina was named "regolatore" of the XXI general chapter of his congregation in
1978 . From1982 to1986 , he wasSecretary of thePontifical Committee of Historical Science , and was madeUndersecretary ofPontifical Council for Culture within theRoman Curia in1986 . NamedPrefect of theVatican Library byPope John Paul II on25 May ,1997 , he was the second-highest official in that Curial office, successively underLuigi Cardinal Poggi andJean-Louis Cardinal Tauran .On
15 November ,2006 , Farina was appointed Titular Bishop of "Opitergium" byPope Benedict XVI . He received his episcopal consecration on the followingDecember 16 fromTarcisio Cardinal Bertone , a fellow Salesian, withJames Cardinal Stafford and Cardinal Tauran serving as co-consecrators, inSt. Peter's Basilica . Farina was later namedArchivist of theVatican Secret Archives andLibrarian of theVatican Library onJune 25 ,2007 , replacing Cardinal Tauran, who was madePresident of thePontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue . Histitular see was elevated "pro hac vice " to the level of an archdiocese on the same date as well.Pope Benedict created him Cardinal-Deacon of "S. Giovanni della Pigna" in the
consistory of24 November of that same year. Farina will be eligible to participate in any futurepapal conclave s until he reaches the age of eighty on24 September ,2013 .On
12 June 2008 in addition to his main duties he was appointed by Benedict as a member of congregations in theRoman Curia [http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/22278.php?index=22278&lang=en] . These are: theCongregation for the Causes of Saints ,Congregation for Catholic Education and thePontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church .Cardinal Farina currently sits on the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences , and is also fluent in German, Spanish, Japanese, and French.External links
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bfarin.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2007/06/interreligiouss-diplomatic-hand.html Whispers in the Loggia]
* [http://www.gcatholic.com/hierarchy/data/bishops-23.htm Giga-Catholic Information]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios2007.htm#Farina Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-pages.com/hierarchy/cardinals_bio.asp?ref=263 Catholic-pages]
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