14 Facts About Antonio Quarracino

Antonio Quarracino was an Argentine prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church in Argentina and the archbishop of Buenos Aires between 1990 and 1998.

Antonio Quarracino's family emigrated to Argentina when he was 4 years old, settling in the town of San Andres de Giles in the province of Buenos Aires.

Antonio Quarracino was appointed Bishop of Nueve de Julio, Buenos Aires, by Pope John XXIII, on 3 February 1962, and received the episcopal see on 8 April of the same year.

Antonio Quarracino participated in all sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

Antonio Quarracino was elected to preside over the Argentine Episcopal Conference in the following November, and then reelected until 1996.

Antonio Quarracino was elevated to Cardinal-Priest of S Maria della Salute a Primavalle in consistory on 28 June 1991.

Antonio Quarracino died in 1998 at the age of 74 at the Otamendi Hospital, due to a cardiac arrest.

Antonio Quarracino's doctors announced that his death came due to complications following intestinal surgery on 21 February 1998.

Antonio Quarracino was succeeded automatically by his coadjutor bishop, the Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Antonio Quarracino was a major figure of inter-religious discussion with Jews.

Antonio Quarracino was inclined to journalism and, while in La Plata, he renewed the informative magazine of the archdiocese, transforming it into a full-fledged cultural publication.

In 1990, Antonio Quarracino attracted controversy after criticizing a recently approved divorce law, saying that it had been the work of "Masonic influences" and that it severely "weakened the Argentine people's traditional religious spirit".

Antonio Quarracino was opposed to the policies of president Raul Alfonsin and accused politicians of corruption, as the cause of "national poverty".

In 1994, during his TV segment in ATC, Antonio Quarracino spoke against homosexuality saying that lesbians and gay men should be "locked up in a ghetto".