18 Facts About Giacomo Biffi

Giacomo Biffi was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

Giacomo Biffi was Archbishop Emeritus of Bologna, having served as archbishop there from 1984 to 2003.

Giacomo Biffi was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, OS.

From 1951 to 1960, Giacomo Biffi taught dogmatic theology at the Seminary of Milan, publishing numerous works on theology, catechetics and meditation.

Giacomo Biffi received a doctorate in theology from the Faculty of Theology at Venegono in 1955; his thesis was entitled: La colpa e la liberta nell'odierna condizione umana.

Giacomo Biffi became Episcopal Vicar for Culture in 1974, and a canon theologian of the metropolitan chapter of Milan on 1 February 1975.

Giacomo Biffi served as director of the Istituto Lombardo di Pastorale and the Commission for the Ambrosian Rite.

On 7 December 1975, Giacomo Biffi was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Milan and Titular Bishop of Fidenae by Pope Paul VI.

Giacomo Biffi received his episcopal consecration on 11 January 1976 from Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, with Bishops Bernardo Citterio and Libero Tresoldi serving as co-consecrators.

Giacomo Biffi was elected President of the Episcopal Conference of Emilia-Romagna on 7 July 1984.

Giacomo Biffi preached the Lent spiritual exercises for the pope and Roman Curia in 1989.

Giacomo Biffi retired from the governance of the archdiocese in December 2003 and was succeeded by Carlo Caffarra.

Giacomo Biffi was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

In 2000, Giacomo Biffi told a Bologna conference that the Antichrist would most likely be a prominent philanthropist promoting the ideas of ecumenism, vegetarianism, and pacifism.

Giacomo Biffi believed that ecumenicism promotes the dilution of Catholic doctrine and thereby encourages the acceptance of the Antichrist.

Giacomo Biffi held social conservative views, stating that an "ideology of homosexuality" threatens to marginalize whoever disagrees with the homosexual agenda, and that Catholics must prepare for persecution by homosexual activists and their allies.

Cardinal Giacomo Biffi once said that the Italian government should favour Catholic immigrants to offset the number of Muslim immigrants to protect Italy's "national identity".

In 2007, Giacomo Biffi expounded on many of his views by publishing Memorie e digressioni di un italiano cardinale.