Alfredo Ottaviani
Alfredo Ottaviani (29 October 1890 – 3 August 1979) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII named him cardinal in 1953. He served as secretary of the Holy Office in the Roman Curia from 1959 to 1966 when that dicastery was reorganised as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which he was pro-prefect until 1968.
Alfredo Ottaviani
9 February 1966
8 January 1968
18 March 1916
19 April 1962
by Pope John XXIII
12 January 1953
by Pope Pius XII
- Cardinal-Deacon (1953–1967)
- Cardinal-Priest (1967–1979)
29 October 1890
San Salvatore in Ossibus Church, Vatican City
- Enrico Ottaviani
- Palmira Catalini
- Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica (1953–1967)
- Pro-Secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office (1953–1959)
- Secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office (1959–1966)
- Titular Archbishop of Berrhoea (1962)
- Semper Idem
- (Always the Same)
Ottaviani was a prominent figure in the Catholic Church during his time, and was the leading conservative voice at the Second Vatican Council.
Early life and education[edit]
Ottaviani was born in Rome, where his father was a baker. He studied with the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Trastevere, then at the Pontifical Roman Seminary and the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare, from where he received his doctorates in philosophy, theology, and canon law. He was ordained to the priesthood on 18 March 1916.
Impacts and influences[edit]
Karl Rahner[edit]
At the beginning of 1962, Ottaviani notified the Jesuit superiors of theologian Karl Rahner that Rahner had been placed under Roman pre-censorship. That meant that the prolific theology professor could no longer publish or lecture without permission. A few months later, in November 1962, Pope John XXIII appointed Rahner to be peritus (an expert advisor) to and at the Second Vatican Council. Since Rahner accompanied the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Franz König, as a theological consultant, Ottaviani did not throw Rahner out of the council in spite of the earlier silencing.[12]