28 Facts About Gianfranco Ravasi

Gianfranco Ravasi was born on 18 October 1942 and is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a biblical scholar.

Gianfranco Ravasi headed Milan's Ambrosian Library from 1989 to 2007.

The oldest of three children, Ravasi was born in Merate, province of Lecco, Kingdom of Italy.

Gianfranco Ravasi's father was an anti-fascist treasury agent who served in Sicily during World War II, but later deserted the army; it took him 18 months to return to his family.

Gianfranco Ravasi planned on a career teaching Greek and Latin classics before decided to join the priesthood.

Gianfranco Ravasi attended the seminary of Milan and was ordained by Cardinal Giovanni Colombo on 28 June 1966.

Gianfranco Ravasi studied in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

Gianfranco Ravasi spent summers in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey, working as an archaeologist with such figures as Kathleen Kenyon and Roland de Vaux.

Gianfranco Ravasi later served as a professor of exegesis of the Old Testament at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy in Milan.

On 3 September 2007, Gianfranco Ravasi was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and named an archbishop of the titular see of Villamagna in Proconsulari.

Gianfranco Ravasi was named President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology.

On 11 December 2010, Gianfranco Ravasi was named a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education for a five-year renewable term.

Gianfranco Ravasi was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.

Gianfranco Ravasi organized the Vatican participation in the Venice Biennale in May 2013.

Gianfranco Ravasi was appointed a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in October 2016.

Gianfranco Ravasi has developed Pope Benedict XVI's vision of an international forum that fosters dialogue between Christian believers and agnostics or atheists.

In November 2011, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said preaching in churches had become formulaic and boring, such that it risked becoming "irrelevant".

Gianfranco Ravasi said that "The advent of televised and computerised information requires us to be compelling and trenchant, to cut to the heart of the matter, resort to narratives and colour".

Gianfranco Ravasi believes that archeology is a crucial undertaking in understanding the world.

Gianfranco Ravasi said in a 2015 interview that "archeology is very important in my view because it permits us to understand that man did not start from zero, but is always building upon his patrimony, his heritage".

In 2013, Gianfranco Ravasi delivered an address to the TED conference held in Rome in which he said that religious liberty was a fundamental dimension of the human person that had to be respected.

Gianfranco Ravasi said that religious liberty was an absolute necessity, particularly in a globalized world "where cultures are intermingled and adherents of different religions are constrained to live side by side".

Gianfranco Ravasi has criticized those governments around the world that seek to impede or restrict religious freedoms and has suggested that there are some religious minorities that do not receive sufficient protection from their governments.

Gianfranco Ravasi has criticized laws that infringe on religious beliefs and has said that laws forcing abortion and euthanasia practices are the most prevalent examples.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has suggested that the diaconate for women was a possibility.

Gianfranco Ravasi has said that the current debate regarding the issue made the matter very 'clerical' and tied too closely to the matter of female ordination.

However, Gianfranco Ravasi said that it was prudent to show caution when discussing the matter since ambiguity in the media becomes a greater problem that hijacks the debate and steers it in the wrong direction.

Gianfranco Ravasi is a strong proponent of the liturgy that emerged following the Second Vatican Council as opposed to the pre-Conciliar Tridentine Mass.