17 Facts About Girolamo Prigione

Girolamo Prigione was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1951 to 1997.

Girolamo Prigione became an archbishop in 1968 and from then until retirement held positions at the rank of apostolic delegate or apostolic nuncio in several countries, including almost twenty years in Mexico where he became a controversial figure.

Girolamo Prigione entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1951.

Girolamo Prigione fulfilled assignments in Italy, Great Britain, the United States and Austria, and served as a delegate at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

Girolamo Prigione received his episcopal consecration on 24 November 1968 from Cardinal Amleto Giovanni Cicognani.

Girolamo Prigione was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Ghana and Nigeria on 2 October 1973.

Girolamo Prigione played an important role in giving the Mexican episcopate a more conservative profile in line with Pope John Paul II's repression of liberation theology and reassertion of papal primacy.

Girolamo Prigione moved to avert a replay of the Church-State conflict of the late 1920s.

When Girolamo Prigione arrived in Mexico the Holy See and the Mexican government did not have diplomatic relations and the Church functioned in the country only because the government chose not to enforce much of its anti-religious law.

Girolamo Prigione was a key player in the change in attitude and policy of the Mexican government toward the Catholic Church.

Girolamo Prigione was engaged in secret talks with the government in the month before the inauguration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in December 1988.

Girolamo Prigione made Prigione Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico on 12 October 1992.

In December 1993 and January 1994, Girolamo Prigione secretly met with two drug traffickers the government had identified as culpable in the assassination of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo in May 1993.

Girolamo Prigione was sharply criticized by both political and church officials.

The next year, when Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia of San Cristobal was accused of supporting the rebels, Mexico's bishops divided into opposing camps, some seeing the charge as scapegoating and the others, led by Girolamo Prigione, distancing themselves and the Church from Ruiz.

Girolamo Prigione retired on 2 April 1997 with the appointment of Archbishop Justo Mullor Garcia to succeed him as Nuncio to Mexico.

Girolamo Prigione died on 27 May 2016 in the Diocese of Alessandria in Italy.