When the Archbishop of Bologna, Mateo Zupi, turned a cardinal on October 5, 2019, his day ended with a Massively celebrates Exterior the Basilica Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome, the place he discovered a route as an adolescent and later served as a priest.
“My life, or extra lately, life is at all times made up of so many items which have formed us and are a part of me,” says Cardinal Zupi, who’s 69 years previous, throughout his homilia that night. “At present I see and imagine that all of us see it, the enjoyment of being collectively as a bit of our widespread life, the alternative of individualism.”
Lots of those that gathered to want him nicely throughout this liturgy have recognized him since his days as a teenage volunteer for the neighborhood of Sant’Egio, a Catholic charity recognized for working with the poor, for inter -religious dialogue and for the mediation of worldwide conflicts.
After turning into a priest, he continues to grow to be a Vicar within the Basilica and for years he has been a religious chief of the neighborhood of Sant’Egidio, who prays in Santa Maria in Trastevere.
He’s now among the many cardinals, usually talked about by Vatican observers as a pope contender. As a priest and bishop, he has accepted a pastoral imaginative and prescient for a ministry like Francis, and is predicted to proceed his method if elected.
For a lot of Romans, Cardinal Zupi is called “Don Matteo”-the identify of a priest to resolve crimes in Italian tv.
When Francis knocked him all the way down to grow to be a cardinal in 2019, he regarded completely appropriate for Pontiff, who was attempting to fulfill again into the Catholics of the folds who felt geographical, pastoral and ideologically alienated.
Cardinal Zupi was welcoming to LGBTQ Roman Catholics and wrote an introduction to the Italian version of the 2017 guide to achieve homosexual Catholics by Reverend James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author.
Sharing Francis’ disgust together with his place traps, Cardinal Zupi rides on a motorcycle round Bologna after turning into Archbishop of the Italian metropolis in 2015, simply as Francis was driving the general public bus whereas he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. And as Francis, who selected to dwell in a modest Vatican visitor home, as a substitute of the luxurious Apostolic Palace, Cardinal Zupi moved to a house for retired monks in Bologna.
Cardinal ZUPI has additionally developed a global status, getting into among the most cluster conflicts on the planet. With Sant’Egidio, he was a significant negotiator within the negotiations that led to the 1992 peace settlement, which put an finish to a civil conflict in Mozambique. He’s concerned in lots of different peace talks, and never all of which have given outcomes.
In 2023, Pope Francis selected Cardinal Zepi to be Merry Messenger between Ukraine and RussiaS Though he failed to realize peace, many Ukrainians thought of the mission of success. They noticed him as “one of many greatest expressions of help for Ukraine by the Holy See,” says Andrius Yurash, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican. He inspired different international locations to help the dialogue and helped facilitate the change of prisoners and youngsters, stated G -N -Yurash.
On the day of Francis Cardinal Zupi’s funeral, he met with President Volodimir Zelenski of Ukraine, who “expressed his appreciation, our gratitude” for what the Vatican had achieved, added Mr. Yurash.
However the Cardinal Zupi Affiliation with the Sant’Egidio Neighborhood can work in opposition to it within the election for the subsequent Pope, According to Sandro MagisterVatican knowledgeable. “An rising variety of cardinal voters are cautious of a pontiffene, which might be at critical danger of being managed by an exterior oligarchy,” stated Mr Grasp, citing the group, calling it “”gorge“This was an amazing energy in Francis within the Vatican.
Other critics They identified that Cardinal Zupi’s ties helped to shortly monitor his early profession: his father labored within the Vatican, and thru his mom Cardinal Zepi was the grandson of as soon as a strong Italian Cardinal.
Francis was appointed president of the Italian Episcopal Convention in 2022, selecting it from a bunch of three candidates voted by the bishops. One of his first actions It was to open an investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Italy.
The first report The investigation was disappointing as a result of he lacked scope and independence, stated Francesco Zarndi, founder and president of Connect the abuseItalian sufferer rights group. Zarndi is partly accusing Italian legislation, which doesn’t require the church to report misuse of crime earlier than civilian authorities, so Cardinal Zupi “after the letter of legislation,” he stated.
But even Cardinal critics stated the investigation was greater than his predecessors had achieved in a rustic the place the clergy sexual violence did not have a public readingS Zarndi stated Cardinal Zupi met with him many instances and was not ashamed of confrontation.
This doesn’t shock the individuals who know him. Mario Maraciti of Sant’Egidio stated that over time Cardinal Zupi has “developed an try to dialogue between those that have struggled between the alternative worlds” and thus, the power to reconciliation.
