Raffaele Farina

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Styles of Raffaele Farina
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
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Raffaele Farina, SDB (born September 24, 1933) is an Italian Cardinal of the Roman 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.

[edit] 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 on September 25, 1949, and made his perpetual vows on September 25, 1954; one of his sisters is also a Salesian. Farina began his studies in theology at the Pontifical Salesian Athenaeum of Turin in 1954 as well, obtaining his licentiate in theology from the Athenaeum in 1958. He was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Maurilio Fossati, OSsCG, on July 1, 1958.

Farina later studied ecclesiastical history at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and received his doctorate in 1965. For the following three years, he worked on his specialization at the German Foundation "Humboldt" in Freiburg and Bonn. From 1968 to 1972, he was Professor of History of the Church (covering the origin to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D.) and of Methodology in the Theological Faculty of the Pontifical Salesian University; he then served as dean of the same faculty until 1974, and was rector of the university for two terms (1977-1983, 1992-1997).

Farina was named regolatore of the XXI general chapter of his congregation in 1978. From 1982 to 1986, he was Secretary of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Science, and was made Undersecretary of Pontifical Council for Culture within the Roman Curia in 1986. Named Prefect of the Vatican Library by Pope John Paul II on May 25, 1997, he was the second-highest official in that Curial office, successively under Cardinals Luigi Poggi and Jean-Louis Tauran.

On November 15, 2006, Farina was appointed Titular Bishop of Opitergium by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following December 16 from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a fellow Salesian, with Cardinals James Stafford and Jean-Louis Tauran serving as co-consecrators, in St. Peter's Basilica. Farina was later named Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and Librarian of the Vatican Library on June 25, 2007, replacing Cardinal Tauran, who was made President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. His titular 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 of November 24 of that same year. Farina will be eligible to participate in any future papal conclaves until he reaches the age of eighty on September 24, 2013.

Cardinal Farina currently sits on the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and is also fluent in German, Spanish, Japanese, and French.

[edit] External links

• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Whispers in the Loggia
• Giga-Catholic Information
• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
• Catholic-pages