20 Facts About Pericle Felici

Pericle Felici was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church.

Pericle Felici studied theology at the local seminary of Segni and at the Roman Pontifical Seminary.

Pericle Felici earned degrees in philosophy, theology and canon law and then served for ten years as rector of the Pontifical Roman Seminary.

Pericle Felici took up his first assignment with the Roman Curia in 1947 as an auditor of the Roman Rota, the Holy See's highest trial court.

In 1959, when Pope John XXIII named a committee of twelve to plan the Second Vatican Council, Pericle Felici was named a member and its secretary.

Pericle Felici made announcements to the assembled bishops about their agenda and procedures in Latin, as well as the results of balloting when voting began in late 1963.

On 25 November 1963, as the council's second session was nearing its end and factional disputes were breaking into the open, Pericle Felici tried to prevent the distribution of a statement on the council's much-contested document on communications signed by 25 bishops, even trying without success to take one from Auxiliary Bishop Josef Maria Reuss of Mainz and then summoning Vatican police.

Thomas Merton mocked him as the council's "dean of discipline" when the next year Pericle Felici announced that distributing such leaflets was forbidden.

Pericle Felici was identified as a key member of the Curia, along with such senior officials as Alfredo Ottaviani, head of the Congregation of the Holy Office, and Amleto Cicognani, Secretary of State, who tried to maintain control of the Council in the interests of the Roman Curia and limit the influence of the bishops who constituted the council's membership.

Pericle Felici was named president of the Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the Decrees of the Second Vatican Council.

Pericle Felici was a member of the Vatican commission that reviewed the new catechism produced by the Dutch bishops in 1967 and sought clarifications before allowing it to be translated into other languages.

Pericle Felici circulated a draft to the world's bishops in the spring of 1971 and reported to the Synod of Bishops in November 1971 that it had been overwhelmingly rejected.

Pericle Felici appeared in a more collaborative context in 1970 when he joined Cardinal Johannes Willebrands in announcing somewhat relaxed rules for Catholics who marry non-Catholics.

Pericle Felici was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Rite.

In 1978, Pericle Felici participated in the August and October papal conclaves, where he was considered papabile, that is, a candidate for election, though no candidate appeared particularly strong.

Pericle Felici was a conservative voice at several meetings of the Synod of Bishops.

Pericle Felici was known as an opponent of proposals to ease the granting of annulments.

Pericle Felici warned that canon law should not be disregarded out of "theological or pastoral concern".

Pericle Felici wrote poetry in Latin and was said to prefer to converse in Latin.

Pericle Felici collapsed after attending a religious service in Foggia and died there on 22 March 1982.