His Eminence Ricardo Ezzati Andrello | |
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| Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago de Chile | |
Cardinal Ezzati in 2017
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| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Archdiocese | Santiago de Chile |
| See | Santiago de Chile |
| Appointed | 15 December 2010 |
| Installed | 14 January 2011 |
| Term ended | 23 March 2019 |
| Predecessor | Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa |
| Successor | Celestino Aós Braco |
| Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest of Santissimo Redentore a Valmelaina (2014–) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 18 March 1970 by Emilio Tagle Covarrubias |
| Consecration | 8 September 1996 by Carlos Oviedo Cavada |
| Created cardinal | 22 February 2014 byPope Francis |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ricardo Ezzati Andrello (1942-01-07) 7 January 1942 (age 82) |
| Nationality |
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| Previous post(s) |
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| Alma mater |
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| Motto | Para Evangelizar (To Evangelize) |
| Coat of arms |  |
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| Styles of Ricardo Ezzati Andrello | |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
Ricardo Ezzati Andrello SDB (Spanish pronunciation: [riˈkaɾðo eˈsatjanˈdɾelo], Italian: [etˈtsaːti anˈdrɛllo]; born 7 January 1942) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has lived and worked in Chile since the age of 17. He was Archbishop of Santiago from December 2010 to March 2019 and has been a cardinal since February 2014. He previously served as Archbishop of Concepción. He headed the Episcopal Conference of Chile from 2010 to 2016.
Ricardo Ezzati was born in Campiglia dei Berici, Vicenza, Italy. He immigrated to Chile in 1959 to enter the novitiate of the Salesians in Quilpué, Valparaíso, and studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Valparaíso. He studied theology at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, where he obtained his licentiate.[1]
He made his final vows as a Salesian on 30 December 1966 and was ordained as a priest of the Salesian order on 18 March 1970. After his ordination he received a Licentiate in Religious Studies at the Institut de Pastoral Catéchetique in Strasbourg. He then held the title of Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the Catholic University of Valparaíso.[1]
As a Salesian priest he held the following positions: Director for Youth Ministry in the Salesian School in Valdivia; Director of Community for the Salesians in Concepcion, Chile; Member of the Provincial Council of the Chilean Salesians; Director of the Salesian Seminary of Santiago de Chile; and Inspector Provincial of the Salesians in Chile.
He was a member of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Vice President of the Conference of Religious of Chile, participating in the General Chapters of the Salesian Congregation in 1984 and 1990.[1]
In 1991, he was appointed to the Roman Curia as an official of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.[2]
On 28 June 1996, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Valdivia, Chile, and he was consecrated on 8 September.[3]
On 10 July 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the much larger Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile, assigning him the titular seeofLa Imperial.[3] On 27 December 2006, he was named Archbishop of Concepción.[4]
In June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named him and four other prelates to serve as Apostolic Visitors to the Legionaries of Christ following the discovery that the order's founder, Marciel Maciel Degollado, an associate of Pope John Paul II, had engaged in sexual abuse of minors and young men. Ezzati was given responsibility for investigating the order in South America:[5] Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela,[2] where the Legion had 20 houses, 122 priests and 122 religious seminarians.
While archbishop of Concepción, Ezzati mediated a dispute between the government and a group of 34 Mapuche prisoners who had been on a hunger strike for 82 days.[6]
On 15 December 2010, Pope Benedict appointed Ezzati as Archbishop of Santiago de Chile to replace Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz, who had submitted his resignation as required upon reaching the age of 75.[6] Ezzati was installed in Santiago de Chile on 14 January 2011.[7]
Pope Francis named Ezzati a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education in November 2013.[8]
He was elevated to the rank of cardinal at a consistory on 22 February 2014.[2] In May 2014, Pope Francis named him a member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.[9]
In October 2014, Ezzati denied press reports that he had denounced the Jesuit priest Felipe Berríos to the Vatican and said he had only replied to inquiries about the priest's controversial statements from the papal nuncio. Press reports later demonstrated that Ezzati had initiated the accusation process to prevent Berríos from becoming chaplain at the presidential palace.[10]
He participated in the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2014 and October 2015.[11] He was one of the four prelates who presented the 2014 synod's summary document (the relatio).[12] He served as president of the Episcopal Conference of Chile from 2010 to 2016.[13]
In December 2016, Ezzati submitted his resignation as required upon reaching the age of 75.[14] Pope Francis did not accept it. In May 2018, Ezzati submitted it again.
On 22 March 2019, the Supreme Court of Chile rejected Ezzati's petition to stop the preliminary proceedings against him and not to bring in an accusation against him. One day later, Pope Francis accepted the submitted resignation.[15]
In February 2011, he announced that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, based on an investigation conducted under his predecessor, had found Fernando Karadima, a prominent priest in the archdiocese, guilty of sexually abusing minors.[16] In 2013 and 2014, he teamed with his predecessor, Cardinal Errazuriz, on a secret campaign to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz, one of Karadima's victims and accusers, from being appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The revelation of their email correspondence in September 2015 prompted advocates for victims of abuse to call for Ezzati's resignation.[10]
In January 2015, Pope Francis named Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to head a diocese. Barros was closely associated with Karadima and continued to defend him. Ezzati's advice that the appointment be withdrawn was not accepted.[17]
On October 21, 2018, reports surfaced that Chile's Court of Appeal ordered Ezzati's office to pay 450 million Chilean pesos ($650,000) to three men who claimed that Karadima had sexually abused them for decades.[18] However, Dobra Lusic, a spokesperson for the Court of Appeal, stated that the lawsuit was still ongoing and that no verdict had been reached.[19]
A man filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Ezzati and the Archdiocese of Santiago claiming that in 2015 he had been raped in a bedroom attached to the cathedral and that Ezzati had bribed him to keep silent.[20] On 23 March 2019, Pope Francis accepted Ezzati's resignation, presented when he turned 75.[21]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by Alejandro Jiménez Lafeble |
Bishop of Valdivia 28 June 1996 – 10 July 2001 |
Succeeded by Ignacio Francisco Ducasse Medina |
| Titular see established | — TITULAR — Titular Bishop of La Imperial 10 July 2001 – 27 December 2006 |
Succeeded by Pedro Mario Ossandón Buljevic |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Concepción 27 December 2006 – 15 December 2010 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Santiago 15 December 2010 – 23 March 2019 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Cardinal-Priest of Santissimo Redentore a Valmelaina 22 February 2014 – |
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