Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 84, spent the better part of his life and career among the ranks of the Roman Curia, working for nearly 25 years in Rome since his 1987 appointment as Secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, until his retirement as the body’s Prefect in 2010.
Born in Borno, Italy in 1934, Re was ordained a Priest for the Italian diocese of Brescia in 1957 and holds a degree in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He taught at the Brescia seminary before his appointment in 1964 as the personal secretary of the late Archbishop Giovanni Benelli, who also had a lengthy career in diplomatic service, including important posts in the Roman Curia.
After serving in a number of other diplomatic positions in countries such as Panama and Iran, in 1987 Re was named secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, and given the title of Titular Archbishop of Forum Novum. He held the role for two years before being named the Sostituto, or “Substitute” for General Affairs of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, making him a top Papal aide.
The Cardinal held the position as Sostituto for 11 years, until in 2000 he was appointed as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America by St. John Paul II, who gave him a red hat less than a year later.
According to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican ambassador to the United States who published an 11-page letter August 25th detailing a behind-the-scenes account of disgraced McCarrick’s rise to power and allegations that several high-ranking prelates, including Pope Francis, covered-up for him, Cardinal Re was someone opposed to McCarrick from the beginning.
Not only did Cardinal Re, a long-time Curial insider, voice disapproval for McCarrick’s appointment as Archbishop of Washington in 2000, but, according to Viganò, he allegedly also knew about sanctions imposed against the American Prelate, and communicated those to certain Curial officials, including Archbishop Viganò himself.
Cardinal Re’s appointment to the Congregation for Bishops in 2000 is significant, as it was the same year that the Father Boniface Ramsey sent his first letter to the Vatican’s embassy in Washington D.C. complaining about McCarrick’s conduct with seminarians.
According to ArchbishopViganò, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States at the time, Colombian Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, immediately passed Father Ramsey’s letter on to Rome, meaning that within months of taking office, Cardinal Re would have had the first formal McCarrick complaint on his desk.
Archbishop Viganò asserts that Archbishop Montalvo’s action was followed up on by his predecessor, Pietro Sambi, who allegedly wrote to Rome about further complaints against McCarrick and sent documents from a former Priest who said he had been abused by the Prelate. This would also have been during Cardinal Re’s tenure at the Congregation for Bishops.
In his letter, Archbishop Vigano states that Cardinal Re had been opposed to McCarrick’s appointment as Archbishop of Washington from the beginning, even before Father Ramsey’s complaint was made, saying there is a note inside the Vatican embassy in Washington “written in his hand,” in which Cardinal Re “disassociates himself from the appointment and states that McCarrick was 14th on the list for Washington.”
And yet, despite Cardinal Re’s opposition, McCarrick’s appointment went through. He did not retire until 2006, meaning Cardinal Re oversaw the Vatican’s office for Bishops during the McCarrick’s entire tenure as Archbishop of Washington.
To date, Cardinal Re has chosen to remain silent and disassociate himself from the controversies which Archbishop Vigano’s letter have raised.
But Cardinal Re would be in a position to know the facts and to know the truth regarding Archbishop Vigano’s claims.
Cardinal Re is 84 and, according to many,is showing signs of the infirmities that often accompany advanced age. Certainly, one could be sympathetic that, at this stage in his life, Cardinal Re does not wish to engage in the many controversies which Archbishop Vigano’s letter raises.
To do so would require much energy and would expose the Cardinal to the glare of spotlights and the hounding of journalists from around the world.
Getting involved would require heroic virtue on the part of Cardinal Re. Many understand this.
But, given the sad state of affairs in which the Church, its hierarchy and the Papacy itself find itself, perhaps only men of heroic virtue may be the ones who can bring dignity and honor back to the Body of Christ and assist in its mission to be a source of truth and light to the world.
Cardinal Re is aware of the facts. Perhaps, the Holy Spirit will move him to share those facts
with a wounded Church in need of truth and solace.
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