֎Oscar Cardinal CANTONI (elevated 2022)

IMAGE CREDIT:

Peciul, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

LINKS:

Vatican bio of Cardinal Oscar CANTONI:

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_cantoni_o.html     

Oscar CANTONI on FIU's Cardinals Database (by Salvador Miranda):

https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios2022.htm#Cantoni   

Cardinal Oscar CANTONI on Gcatholic.org:

https://gcatholic.org/p/4928                     

Cardinal Oscar CANTONI on Catholic-Hierarchy.org:

https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcantoni.html

Diocese of Como on Gcatholic.org:

https://gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/como0.htm?tab=info        

Diocese of Como on Catholic-Hierarchy.org:

https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dcomi.html  

2022 Aleteia.org profile of Cardinal-elect Cantoni and the Diocese of Como:

https://aleteia.org/2022/08/27/cardinal-cantoni-an-italian-in-red-for-a-martyred-diocese/ 

Telegraph.co.uk 2024 reporting on Fr. Martinelli case:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/24/priest-jailed-abuse-altar-boy-popes-choirboys/

Catholic News Agency reporting on the 2021 Fr. Martinelli trial:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/246626/vatican-abuse-trial-witnesses-say-allegations-about-youth-seminary-were-ignored

National Catholic Reporter 2024 reporting on Fr. Martinelli case:

https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/vatican-appeals-court-finds-priest-guilty-corrupting-minor 

Reuters 2024 reporting on Fr. Martinelli case:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/vatican-convicts-priest-accused-abuse-papal-altar-boys-school-2024-01-23/

 

Thank you for listening, and thank my family and friends for putting up with the time investment and for helping me out as needed. 

As always, feel free to email the show at Popeularhistory@gmail.com 

If you would like to financially support Popeular history, go to www.patreon.com/Popeular. If you don't have any money to spare but still want to give back, pray and tell others– prayers and listeners are worth more than gold!

 

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights.

 

Check out the show notes for sources, further reading, and a transcript.

 

Please note that this episode includes discussion of sexual crimes and allegations, and may not be appropriate for all audiences.

 

Today we're discussing another current Cardinal o f the Catholic Church, one of the 120 or so people who will choose the next Pope when the time comes..

 

Oscar CANTONI was born on September 1, 1950, in Lenno, a small town in the Como Province of the Lombardy Region of northern Italy.

 

We've had several Italian Cardinals before- nine, to be exact, and we've even had another Cardinal from Lombardy–Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and I count myself blessed every time I have the chance to say the name of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.

 

In any event, Oscar had the most surprising educational history out of all the Cardinals so far: while by all accounts he did well at school, and he's actually published several books, *and* he's taught in various capacities for decades, he doesn't have any academic degrees.

 

Nevertheless, in 1975 he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Como. From 1985 to 1999 he was actively involved in promoting vocations, becoming director of the Vocational Diocesan Center in 1986. From 1990 to 2005, Father Cantoni served as a Spiritual Director at the diocesan seminary. 

 

One more unique project came along in 2000, when he re-founded the Ordo Virginum in the Diocese, the Ordo Virginum being an association of consecrated virgins that had fallen into obscurity until it was restored by the Second Vatican Council.

 

From 2003 to 2005, Father Cantoni was episcopal vicar for the clergy of Como, and it's time that I admit that for a while I thought each Diocese could only have one Episcopal Vicar but I have since come to understand that while each Episcopal Vicar has their own distinct mandate, there can nevertheless be several, if that's what the Bishop wants.

 

In 2005, the trusty old white phone rang, and it was Pope Saint John Paul II, looking to make Father Cantoni Bishop of Crema.

 

Now, you don't say no to JPII, or at least Father Cantoni didn't, and so on March 5th, he was consecrated by his former ordinary, the Bishop of Como, and, well, his other former ordinary, the Bishop Emeritus of Como. The third spot was filled by the Italian Nuncio, a fairly standard arrangement. The previous Bishop of Crema had died in office a few months before, if you're wondering what he was up to.

 

In 2016, Bishop Cantoni was transferred to the Diocese of Como, where he had grown up and served as a priest. In 2017, he ordained Gabriele Martinelli, despite having received some reports of sexual misconduct connected to Matinelli over the years, which Bishop Cantoni later said he had dismissed as quote “transitory homosexual tendency linked to adolescence”.

 

Both the future Father Martinelli and his alleged victim, identified as “L.G.” were teenagers at the time, with Martinelli being about a year older. 

 

The alleged sexual relationship took place over several years in a pre-seminary that was actually on Vatican grounds, tasked with supplying altar servers for Saint Peter's Basilica. The pre-seminary was sponsored by the Diocese of Como, hence Bishop Cantoni's connection.

 

In 2021, Father Martinelli, who has consistently denied everything, was cleared due to a combination of his youth at the time and insufficient evidence, and it was after that ruling that Pope Francis elevated Bishop Cantoni to the Cardinalate, which we'll circle back to.

 

The Martinelli case has a coda, because under Vatican Law the prosecution can appeal cases and earlier this year, that's 2024, Father Martinelli was found guilty of corrupting a minor, that is, L.G., the same accuser as in the 2021 trial.

 

In September 2020, one of Bishop Cantoni's priests, Father Robero Malgesini, was murdered by a homeless person he was caring for. The event was widely covered in the press and prompted Pope Francis to praise God for quote “the martyrdom of this witness of charity toward the poorest”.

 

It should be noted that by all accounts Father Malgesini knew the risks associated with serving the outcasts, who often suffer mental illness. It should also be noted that in 2019, he was fined by local police for feeding people living under the portico of a former church, which, allow me to say, as the only official public policy position of Popeular History, **** such fines.

 

In 2022, in a somewhat surprising move, Pope Francis elevated Bishop Cantoni to the college of Cardinals and added him to the Dicastery for Bishops. I say somewhat sur prising because Como hasn't been headed by a Cardinal since 1694, so it's surprising in that sense, but people knew to expect surprises from Pope Francis by that point, it being his 8th consistory and all, so it  would have been surprising if there had been no surprises on the list. Still, it's fair to ask, why Como?

 

This is always a matter of speculation, because Popes are absolute monarchs and are never expected to give reasons for choosing one possible Cardinal over another. But my guess is the safest one for any analysis: it's a combination of factors. The fluffiest is one I've seen elsewhere, namely leaning into the crimson of the martyrs worn by the Cardinals and seeking to honor a Diocese that had seen more martyrdom in the last generation than most in Italy, not just Father Malgesini, but also Bl. Sr. Maria Laura Mainetti, who was murdered by three teenage girls in a satanic ritual in 2000, dying while asking God to forgive her murderers, certainly a death more on the classic end of the martyrdom spectrum.

 

I think it's likely the Martinelli case also played a role, certainly in the form of delaying Bishop Cantoni's elevation, but also, well, hear me out here.

 

Pope Francis *really* likes to reach out to the marginalized. Like, it's a whole thing for him, and he has absolutely used his cardinatial appointments to do just that–Cardinal Cantoni was sandwiched between a Pacific Islander and an African American in the 2022 consistory. I'm by no means confident in this assessment, but I don't think the fact that Cardinal Cantoni had been recently facing criticism for his handling o f Father Martinelli's case hurt his standings in Pope Francis' assessment. Especially fresh off Martinelli’s initial acquittal, Pope Francis may have seen in Bishop Cantoni another marginalized individual. 

 

One way or another, Cardinal Oscar CANTONI is eligible to participate in future conclaves until he turns 80 in 2030.

 

Today's episode is part of Cardinal Numbers. Stay tuned to see if today's Cardinal gets selected for a deeper dive in the next round! Thank you for listening; God bless you all!