Eduardo Francisco Pironio

Early life

Eduardo Pironio was born on 3 December 1920 in Argentina as the last of 22 children of José Pironio and Enriqueta Rosa Butazzoni, who had emigrated from Friuli, Italy.

Months before his death, in an interview, he stated that: "I am the twenty-second child, the last born, and I have to recognize that the story is somewhat miraculous. ...When their first son was born, my mother was only 18 years old, and she became gravely ill. She was in bed for six months, unable to move. When she recovered, the doctors told her that she would not be able to have more children, and that if she did, her life would be in grave danger. She later gave birth to 21 more children – I am the last – and she lived to the age of 82."

Education

Pironio attended elementary school prior to moving into the seminary in La Plata where he studied both philosophy and theology. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Angelicum Athenaeum in Rome where he attained a licentiate in theology.

Church career

He was ordained on 5 December 1943 in Argentina by Anunciado Serafini. He served as a staff member of the Pío XII Seminary in Mercedes from 1944 until 1959. Pironio served as the vicar general of the Diocese of Mercedes from 1959 until a year later, and he went on to serve as the rector of the Metropolitan Seminary of Villa Devoto from 1960 to 1964. He attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1964 as an expert.

He carried out the duties of a priest until Pope Paul VI on 24 March 1964 appointed him as the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of La Plata, Argentina receiving the titular see of Caeciri simultaneously to that. He received his episcopal consecration on 31 May 1964 from Antonio José Plaza. In his capacity as a bishop, he no longer served as an expert to the Second Vatican Council, but from 1964 until 1965, attended as part of the episcopate. In 1967, he was selected as the brief apostolic administrator to the Diocese of Avellaneda.

Pironio was chosen as the Secretary-General of the Latin American Episcopal Council in 1967 and served as such until 1972. He also attended the Synod of Bishops from 29 September to 29 October 1967, and later attended the Second General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate from 24 August to 6 September 1968 in Colombia. He attended two further synods in 1969 and in 1971. Pironio was later elected as the President of the Latin American Episcopal Conference in 1972 and remained as such until 1974, only to be confirmed for an extra year.

He was chosen as the Bishop of Mar del Plata on 19 April 1972. He preached the spiritual exercises for Pope Paul VI and the Roman Curia for Lent in 1974. He remained in his diocese until he was appointed on 20 September 1975 to be the Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the Roman Curia, that same day, becoming the Titular Archbishop of Thiges. He remained as Pro-Prefect until his elevation to the rank of cardinal. Pironio also attended the synod of 1974 in the capacity of relator and as a member of its general secretariat. On 20 September 1975 he was made the Prefect for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and remained as such until 1984.

Paul VI, on 24 May 1976, elevated him into the cardinalate as the Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano. As a cardinal he participated in the synod of 1977, and went on to serve as a cardinal elector in the papal conclave of August and October 1978 that elected Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II respectively. In 1979, he attended the Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate in Mexico, and later a synod in 1980 and 1983.

He was appointed by Pope John Paul II on 8 April 1984 as the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. In that position, together with John Paul II, Pironio was a promoter of the first World Youth Day. He went on to serve at seven additional synods across the course of the next decade. As is traditional after ten years of serving as Cardinal-Deacon, he took the option of becoming Cardinal-Priest while retaining his titular church. On 11 July 1995 he was elected to take the suburbicarian see of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto as a Cardinal-Bishop. He retired in 1996 becoming the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Pironio attended the Fourth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference in 1992 in the Dominican Republic and was appointed as the papal envoy to the 5th National Marian Congress in Ecuador in 1992.

Death

Pironio died in 1998 of bone cancer in Rome. John Paul II presided over the funeral rites with 27 cardinals also in attendance. His remains were taken to Buenos Aires at a mass that Antonio Quarracino presided over after which his remains were buried in the left lateral altar of the basilica of Our Lady of Luján.

Diocesan process

The approval to commence the cause was granted on 24 March 2006 - which granted him the posthumous title Servant of God - and commenced in Rome on 23 June 2006.

On 28 June 2006 Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, stated in an edict that "with the passing of years, his fame for sanctity has increased, and therefore it has been formally requested that we begin his cause of beatification and canonization".

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone celebrated a mass on the seventh anniversary of his death. "His life leaves us with an icon of a holy, generous and ardent minister of Christ", said Cardinal Bertone. "He made of his own existence an act of love for God and for his brothers and sisters; an act of love sustained by unwavering faith and joyful hope".

The Archdiocesan Tribunal of Buenos Aires initiated the Argentine phase of the beatification process on 22 February 2007 and it heard the testimonies of approximately thirty-three witnesses, bishops, priests, religious men and women, and lay people. The diocesan process shall conclude its work in Rome on 11 March 2016; this will result in all documentation being submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints who will commence the "Roman Phase" of the cause.

The postulator assigned was the Benedictine Giuseppe Tamburrino while the vice-postulator appointed was Professor Beatriz Buzzetti.

Miracle

The miracle required for beatification was brought to the attention of officials of the cause and the formal diocesan process for the investigation of the miracle commenced in 2008; it concluded in August 2014.