Bishop Enrique Angelelli during mass.

Enrique Ángel Angelelli (17 June 1923 – 4 August 1976) was a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina, killed during the last military dictatorship for his involvement with social issues. June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... A mitre is used as a symbol of the bishops ministry. ... The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see Terminology below) is the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins and sees itself as the same Church founded by Jesus of Nazareth and maintained through Apostolic Succession from the Twelve... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Dirty War. ...

Angelelli, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Córdoba and entered the seminary of Our Lady of Loreto at 15 years of age. He was then sent to Rome to finish his studies. He was ordained priest on 9 October 1949 and returned to Córdoba. Non-native population in Argentina, 1869–1991 There is a theory that the original inhabitants of Argentina were descendants of Asian peoples that crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America and then, over thousands of years, reached the southern end of South America. ... Córdoba suck my dick is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas mountains on the Suquía River, about 700 km west-northwest from Buenos Aires. ... A seminary is a specialized university-like institution for the purpose of instructing students (seminarians) in theology, often in order to prepare them to become members of the clergy. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ... Roman Catholic priests in traditional clerical clothing. ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

He started working in a parish, founded youth movements and visited Córdoba's slums. He focused his pastoral work on the conditions of the poor. Pope John XXIII appointed him auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Córdoba on 12 December 1960. He got involved in labor union conflicts and worked with other priests looking for a renewal of the Church, which caused him to be resisted. In 1964 he was removed from his post. That same year he took part in the Second Vatican Council. A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ... Blessed Pope John XXIII (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni XXIII), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ...

La Rioja

After four years, on 3 July 1968, Pope Paul VI appointed Angelelli bishop of the Diocese of La Rioja, in northwestern Argentina. July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Pope Paul VI (Latin: ), (Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (September 26, 1897 – August 6, 1978), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. ...

In La Rioja, Angelelli encouraged the creation of unions of miners, rural workers and domestic workers, as well as cooperatives to manufacture knitting works, bricks, clocks and bread, and to claim and work idle lands. One of these cooperatives asked for the expropriation of a latifundio (large estate) that had grown through the appropriation of smaller estates as their owners could not pay up their debts. Governor Carlos Menem, promised he would deliver the estate to the cooperative. On 13 June 1973 Angelelli went to Anillaco, Menem's birthtown, to preside over the patronal feasts. He was received by a mob led by merchants and landowners, among them Amado Menem, the governor's brother, and his sons César and Manuel. The mob entered the church by force, and when Angelelli suspended the celebrations and left, they threw stones at him. Governor Menem withdrew his support to the cooperative on the basis of "social unrest". Angelelli denounced conservative groups, called off religious celebrations in the diocese, and declared a temporary interdict over the Menems and their supporters. Co-op redirects here. ... Knit hat, yarn, and knitting needles. ... Expropriation is the act of removing from control the owner of an item of property. ... A latifundio is a large landed estate in Latin America, like a latifundium in ancient Rome. ... Carlos Saúl Menem (born July 2, 1930) was President of Argentina from July 8, 1989 to December 10, 1999 for the Justicialist Party (Peronist). ... June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... In several forms of the church of Christianity, but especially in Roman Catholicism, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. ... The word interdict usually refers to an ecclesiastical penalty in the Roman Catholic Church. ...

The Superior General of the Jesuits, Pedro Arrupe, and the Archbishop of Santa Fe, Vicente Zazpe (sent by the Holy See as an overseer), visited La Rioja and supported Angelelli, who had offered his resignation and asked the Pope to ratify or withdrew his trust. Before Zazpe, the interdicted demanded for Angelelli's removal, while military marches where broadcast through a loudspeaker. Almost all priests of the diocese met with Zazpe to support Angelelli and told him that "the powerful manipulated the faith to preserve an unjust and oppressed situation of the people" and to take advantage of the "cheap, underpaid workforce". Seal of the Society of Jesus. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

On the other hand, the president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, Adolfo Tortolo, said that the Conference should not mediate, and the Nuncio Lino Zanini openly supported the interdicted, whom he gave crucifixes as gifts. The Argentine Episcopal Conference is an organ of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina that gathers the bishops of the country in order to discuss pastoral issues and in general all matters that have to do with the Church. ... Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin Nuntius, meaning any envoy. ... A crucifix amidst the cornfields near Mureck in rural Styria, Austria A handheld crucifix A crucifix in front of the Holy Spirit Church in Košice, Slovakia A crucifix is a cross with a representation of Jesuss body, or corpus. ...

Zazpe concluded his inspection with a joint mass with Angelelli and expressing his full support for his pastoral work and with regards to doctrine.

The Dirty War

The short presidency of Isabel Martínez de Perón (started in 1974) was marked by the beginning of the Dirty War, which soon escalated into bombings, kidnappings, torture and assassinations, triggering a persecution of left-wing views. María Estela Martínez de Perón (born on February 4, 1931) better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón was the third wife of Argentine President Juan Perón and served as President of Argentina in her own right from July 1, 1974 to March 24, 1976. ... Dirty War (in Spanish: Guerra Sucia) refers to a program of a state-sponsored war on domestic citizens in response to strikes, social unrest, violence or subversion that is claimed to threaten a countrys stability. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Left-Right politics. ...

On 12 February 1976, the vicar of the diocese of La Rioja and two members of a social activist movement were arrested by the military. On 24 March, a coup d'état ousted Isabel Perón and started the National Reorganization Process. Angelelli presented himself to Osvaldo Pérez Battaglia, military interventor of La Rioja, to find out about them. Getting no response, he travelled to Córdoba to speak to Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, then Commander of the Third Army Corps. Menéndez threateningly warned Angelelli: "It is you who have to be careful." February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in leap years). ... A coup d’État (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Dirty War. ...

The murder

Angelelli allegedly knew that he was being targeted for assassination by the military; people close to him had heard him many times say "It's my turn next." On 4 August 1976, he was driving a truck together with Father Arturo Pinto, back from a mass celebrated in the town of El Chamical in homage of two murdered priests, Carlos de Dios Murias and Gabriel Longueville, and carrying three folders with notes about both cases. August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

According to Father Pinto, a car started following them, then another one, and in the place called Punta de los Llanos they forced the truck between them until toppling it. After staying unconscious for a while, Pinto saw Angelelli dead in the road, with the back of its neck showing grave injuries "as if they had beaten him".

The area was quickly surrounded by police and military personnel. An ambulance was sent for. Angelelli's body was taken to the city of La Rioja. The autopsy revealed several broken ribs and a star-shaped fracture in the occipital bone, consistent with a blow given using a blunt object. The truck's brakes and steering wheel were intact, and there were no bullet marks. An autopsy, also known as a post-mortem examination or an obduction, is a medical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of a persons death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present. ... The human rib cage. ... The occipital bone [Fig. ...

The police report stated that Pinto had been driving, momentarily lost control of the vehicle, and when trying to get back on the road a tire blew out; Angelelli was said to have been killed as the truck turned several times. Judge Rodolfo Vigo accepted the report. A few days afterwards, prosecutor Martha Guzmán Loza recommended closing the case, calling it "a traffic event".

Other bishops (Jaime de Nevares, Jorge Novak and Miguel Hesayne) called the event a murder, even during the dictatorship, but the rest of the Church kept silent.

On 19 June 1986, already under democratic rule, La Rioja judge Aldo Morales sentenced that it had been "a homicide, coldly premeditated, and expected by the victim". When some military became involved in the accusation, the Armed Forces tried to block the investigation, but the judge rejected their claims. The case passed to the Supreme Court, which in turn derived it to the Federal Chamber of Córdoba. The Córdoba tribunal said it was possible that the orders had come from Commander Menéndez of the Third Corps. June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Court of Argentina (in Spanish, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación) is the highest court of law of the Argentine Republic. ...

In April 1990, the Ley de Punto Final ("Full Stop Law") ended the investigation against the three military accused of the murder (José Carlos González, Luis Manzanelli and Ricardo Román Oscar Otero). This law and the Law of Due Obedience were repealed in 2005, and in August of that year the case was re-opened. The Supreme Court split the case in two: the accusation against the military was sent to the tribunals in Córdoba, and the possible participation of civilians in the murder was sent to La Rioja. Former Commander Menéndez was called on by the La Rioja tribunal on 16 May 2006 but chose not to declare anything. A poster calling for a demonstration against the passing of the law. ... Ley de Obediencia Debida (Spanish, Law of Due Obedience) was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (which started with a coup détat in 1976 and ended in 1983). ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Position of the Church

After the murder of Angelelli, the Catholic Church officially accepted the car accident story, though some of its members (as mentioned above) spoke against it. L'Osservatore Romano reported his death as "a strange accident", and Juan Carlos Cardinal Aramburu denied it was a crime. Masthead LOsservatore Romano is the Vaticans newspaper. ... Juan Carlos Cardinal Aramburu (February 11, 1912-November 18, 2004) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1975 to 1990, and was named to the College of Cardinals by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 1976. ...

Ten years later, even after the sentence passed by Judge Morales in La Rioja, the hierarchy of the Church continued to avoid any references to murder. In 2001, a declaration emitted by the Argentine Episcopal Conference stated that "[d]eath found him while fulfilling a difficult mission, accompany[ing] the communities hurt by the murder of their shepherds." The Argentine Episcopal Conference is an organ of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina that gathers the bishops of the country in order to discuss pastoral issues and in general all matters that have to do with the Church. ...

Homages to Angelelli

On 2 August 2006, two days before the 30th anniversary of Angelelli's death, President Néstor Kirchner signed a decree declaring 4 August a national day of mourning, and gave a speech in the Casa Rosada "commemorating the religious workers [who were] victims of state terrorism". Alba Lanzillotto, a member of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo who used to attend mass sung by bishop Angelelli, spoke then regarding the belated homage of the Catholic hierarchy: "I don't want Monsignor to be made into a stamp. He has to be alive in our memory." August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Current President Néstor Kirchner The President of Argentina (full title: President of the Argentine Nation, Spanish: Presidente de la Nación Argentina) is the head of state of Argentina. ...  , full name Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoic (born 25 February 1950), is the current President of Argentina. ... August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... The Casa Rosada La Casa Rosada (Spanish for the Pink House), officially known as the Casa de Gobierno (Government House), is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina. ... State terrorism is a controversial term (see:State terrorism. ... The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Spanish: Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo) is an association of Argentine mothers whose children were disappeared under the military dictatorship of the 1970s. ...

On the day of the anniversary, Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio conducted mass in the Cathedral of La Rioja in memory of Angelelli. In his homily he claimed that Angelelli "got stones thrown at him because he preached the Gospel, and shed his blood for it", though he did not explicitly mention the involvement of the dictatorship in the crime. Bergoglio also quoted Tertullian's sentence "[the] blood of the martyrs [is the] seed of the Church". This was the first official homage of the Church to Angelelli, and the first time that the word martyr was used with reference to his murder by Church authorities in this context. After the mass, about 2,000 people (including the governor of La Rioja Ángel Maza) paid homage to Angelelli in Punta de los Llanos, the site of his death. Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio is a Jesuit priest and Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina. ... Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicized as Tertullian, (ca. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ángel Eduardo Maza (born 18 December 1954) is an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ) politician, current governor of La Rioja Province. ...

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Argentina

The Roman Catholic Church in Argentina is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and the Curia in Rome. ...

External links

• (Spanish) Centro Tiempo Latinoamericano — Photo-audio-video gallery, biography, bibliography.
• (Spanish) Enrique Angelelli - Pastor y Mártir de tierra adentro — Biography, photographic gallery, online resources.

References

• Catholic Hierarchy. Bishop Enrique A. Angelelli.
• Nunca Más. Report of CONADEP, 1984. The case of the Bishop of La Rioja, Monsignor Enrique Angelelli...
• Argentine Episcopal Conference, Diocesan Bulletin, May 2001. Mons. Angelelli: Vivió y murió como pastor.
• Página/12. 9 April 2006. El eslabón perdido.
• La Capital. 30 July 2006. La vigencia de Angelelli desafía al encubrimiento.
• Clarín. 30 July 2006. La muerte de Angelelli: en un giro histórico, la Iglesia dice que pudo haber sido un crimen.
• Página/12. 30 July 2006. Cardenal angelizado.
• Página/12. 3 August 2006. "Tarde, pero ésta es tu casa".
• Página/12. 5 August 2006. "Recibía pedradas por predicar el Evangelio".
• ElOrtiba. Angelelli (compiled notes).