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Bishop Enrique Angelelli during mass.
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. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The National Reorganization Process (in Spanish, Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, often simply El Proceso) was the name used by its leaders

Angelelli, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Córdoba and entered the seminary of Our Lady of Loreto at 15 years of age. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The original inhabitants of Argentina were descendants of Asian peoples that crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America and then over thousands Córdoba, abbreviated as CBA, is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas mountains on the A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is a specialized and often live-in Higher education institution for the purpose of instructing students He was then sent to Rome to finish his studies. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 He was ordained priest on 9 October 1949 and returned to Córdoba. A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks. Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

He started working in a parish, founded youth movements and visited Córdoba's slums. A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security 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. Pope John (numberingBlessed The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Córdoba (erected 10 May 1570, as the Diocese of Córdoba is in Argentina and is a metropolitan diocese, responsible Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 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. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twentieth century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church.

Contents

La Rioja

After four years, on 3 July 1968, Pope Paul VI appointed Angelelli bishop of the Diocese of La Rioja, in northwestern Argentina. Events 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Pope

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. "Knit" redirects here See also KNIT and Knitted fabric. 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. Expropriation refers to Confiscation of Private property with the stated purpose of establishing social equality. Latifundia are pieces of property covering tremendous areas The latifundia (Latin lātifundium; lātus, "spacious" + fundus, "farm estate" Governor Carlos Menem, promised he would deliver the estate to the cooperative. Carlos Saúl Menem Akil (born July 2, 1930) was President of Argentina from July 8, 1989 to December 10, 1999 On 13 June 1973 Angelelli went to Anillaco, Menem's birthtown, to preside over the patronal feasts. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. The patron saint of a particular group of people is a Saint who would protect and 'love' the group and its members 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. In the Roman Catholic Church, the word interdict (in’tér-dikt usually refers to an Ecclesiastical penalty

The Superior General of the Jesuits, Pedro Arrupe, and the Archbishop of Santa Fe, Vicente Faustino 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. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ ( November 14, 1907 &ndash February 5, 1991) (full name Pedro de Arrupe y Gondra) was the twenty-eighth Monsignor Vicente Faustino Zazpe Zarategi ( 15 February 1920 – 24 January 1944) was an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent Episcopal see of the Roman Catholic 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".

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 Episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina that gathers the Bishops of the country Nuncio is an ecclesiastical Diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word Nuntius, meaning "envoy A crucifix (from Latin cruci fixus meaning "(one fixed to a cross" is a cross with a representation of Jesus ' 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 Cartas de Perón (born February 4, 1931) better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, is a former This article refers to the Argentine Dirty War for the British film of the same name see Dirty War (film.

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. Events 1429 - English Forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans from attack by the Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On 24 March, a coup d'état ousted Isabel Perón and started the National Reorganization Process. Events 1401 - Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. 1603 - James VI of Scotland The National Reorganization Process (in Spanish, Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, often simply El Proceso) was the name used by its leaders Angelelli presented himself to Osvaldo Pérez Battaglia, military interventor of La Rioja, to find out about them. Federal intervention (Intervención federal is an attribution of the federal government of Argentina, by which it takes control of a province in certain 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. "

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. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

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 his 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. An autopsy, also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy, or obduction, is a Medical procedure that consists of a thorough Examination In Vertebrate Anatomy, ribs ( Latin costae) are the long curved Bones which form the ribcage. The occipital bone, a saucer-shaped membrane bone situated at the back and lower part of the cranium, is trapezoid in shape and curved on itself The truck's brakes and steering wheel were intact, and there were no bullet marks.

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. Miguel Esteban Hesayne (born 26 December 1922 in Azul Buenos Aires) is the Catholic Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese

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". Events 1179 - The Norwegian Battle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) 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 Supreme Court of Argentina (in Spanish, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación) is the highest Court of Law of the Argentine The Córdoba tribunal said it was possible that the orders had come from Commander Menéndez of the Third Corps.

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). Ley de Punto Final (Spanish roughly translated Full Stop Law) was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military This law and the Law of Due Obedience were repealed in 2005, and in August of that year the case was re-opened. 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 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. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was 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 Aramburu denied it was a crime. L'Osservatore Romano ( English: The Roman Observer) is the "semi-official" Newspaper of the Holy See. Juan Carlos Aramburu ( 11 February 1912 - 18 November 2004) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina

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 Episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina that gathers the Bishops of the country "

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". Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The President of Argentina (full title President of the Argentine Nation, Spanish: Presidente de la Nación Argentina) is the Head of state Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić (born February 25, 1950) was the President of Argentina from May 25, 2003 until December Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. La Casa Rosada ( Spanish for "the Pink House" officially known as the Casa de Gobierno ("Government House" or Palacio Presidencial State terrorism refers to acts of Terrorism conducted by governments 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. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is a Human rights organization with the aim of finding the babies stolen during de Argentine He has to be alive in our memory. "

On the day of the anniversary, Jorge Bergoglio conducted mass in the Cathedral of La Rioja in memory of Angelelli. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ (born December 17, 1936) is an Argentine Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. 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". Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca 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. The term martyr ( Greek μάρτυς martys "witness" is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices their life (or personal freedom 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. Ángel Eduardo Maza (born 18 December 1954) is an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ politician

See also

External links

References

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