Mario Conti
Gordon Joseph Gray | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Mario Joseph Conti 20 March 1934 |
Died | 8 November 2022 Glasgow, Scotland | (aged 88)
Buried | St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow |
Parents | Louis Joseph Conti and Josephine Quintilia Conti (née Panicali) |
Previous post(s) | Bishop of Aberdeen (1977–2002) |
Motto | Sincero corde servire |
Mario Joseph Conti (20 March 1934 – 8 November 2022) was a Scottish
Conti died in November 2022 after what was reported as a ‘short illness’ in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Life
Mario Joseph Conti was born on 20 March 1934, in
After a period as Assistant Priest at
As bishop of Aberdeen he rejected claims that the Church sought to protect the interests of nuns and priests above those of children who said they had been abused. It followed the conviction of Sister Marie Docherty on four charges of cruelty towards girls at Nazareth House children's homes in Aberdeen and Midlothian in the 1960s and 1970s. The Liberal Democrats MP for Gordon, Malcolm Bruce, called on the church to apologise to Sister Marie's victims, but Conti resisted any public apology.[4]
Bishop Conti was translated to the archdiocese of Glasgow on 15 January 2002, succeeding Thomas Winning. He took possession of the archdiocese on 22 February 2002.[1]
Conti was succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Glasgow in September 2012, with the installation of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, who was previously the Bishop of Paisley.[5]
Conti died on 8 November 2022, at the age of 88.[6]
Episcopate
Offices and awards
Archbishop Conti was President of the Commission for Christian Doctrine and Unity and also of the Heritage Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. The Archbishop was a member of the Catholic Bishops’ Joint Committee for Bio-Ethics and also of the Central Council of ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland) and was a President of CTBI (Churches Together in Britain and Ireland).[citation needed]
Conti held the following honours:
Commendatore nell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, 1981.
Honorary D.D. (University of Aberdeen), 1989.
Honorary D.D. (University of Glasgow), 2010
Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem Rhodes and Malta, 1991;
Principal Chaplain to the British Association of the Order of Malta, 1995-2000.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Honorary Professor of Theology at the University of Aberdeen, 2002
Grande Ufficiale della Stella della Solidarieta' Italiana
Restoration of St Andrew's Cathedral
Following a successful fund raising campaign Archbishop Conti oversaw the major renovation of St Andrew's Metropolitan Cathedral in Glasgow between 2009-2011. The £5m programme was described as the most significant renovation of a Catholic church in Scotland since the reformation. The dramatic transformation was widely acclaimed and the opening was attended by Scotland's First Minister and representatives of other Christian denominations. The Cathedral now boasts new flooring, new heating and sound systems, new seating, new altar and ambo (designed by the Archbishop himself) and an iconic painting of St John Ogilvie by acclaimed Scottish painter Peter Howson.[7] To the east of the Cathedral, thanks to a fund raising campaign among the Scots Italian community an Italian Cloister Garden has been created with a dramatic modern monument to recall the Arandora Star[8] disaster in 1940.
Accusations against the BBC
In 2004, he accused the
Human cloning
In 2003, Conti publicly accused the UK Government of paving the way for
Gay rights
Archbishop Conti was a vociferous opponent of extensions to gay rights. In 2000, he signed a public letter alongside Cardinal Winning which called for the retention of Section 28 of the Local Government Act despite efforts by the government to repeal. The letter argued that it was important to prevent the funding and promotion of educational material overtly promoting homosexual practice in schools.[10]
In 2006 Conti publicly voiced his views on the case of nine Scottish firefighters who had been disciplined for refusing to take part in a
Also in 2006, Conti called on MSPs to reject the Civil Partnerships (Scotland) Bill, which would provide unmarried couples in "committed" relationships with equality in areas like inheritance, pensions and bereavement saying, "It is not homophobia and we have no gripe against homosexuals per se but we believe that the homosexual relationship is subversive."[12] He later criticised government proposals to permit the adoption of children by gay couples.
Later that same year he preached a sermon which put forward the view that the moral teaching of the Church was being undermined. In part of the sermon, he criticized the UK's civil partnerships legislation which had recently been introduced. He also mentioned the Catholic Church's traditional teaching, stating that homosexual acts cannot be considered equivalent to marital love between a man and a woman. After
In October 2010, he sent a public letter to all Scottish parishes urging Catholic parishioners to oppose Government plans to give gay couples the right to marry.
Lockerbie bomber
In 2009, Conti was vocal in supporting the release by the Scottish government of
Sexual health
In 2004, Conti criticised
Summorum Pontificum
In 2007 he issued directives on the application of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in his diocese. This clarified arrangements for priests who wished to freely celebrate in Glasgow the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal (the Tridentine Mass). Father John Zuhlsdorf said they were directly disobedient to Benedict XVI's motu proprio,[19] which allowed complete freedom for celebrating this form of Mass without a congregation but demanded certain conditions for its celebration with a congregation.[20]
Support for asylum seekers
In 2012 he launched an outspoken defence of asylum seekers facing destitution. The Archbishop wrote an article urging action to defend the asylum seekers at risk (Sunday Herald 10 June 2012) and backed a public demonstration to protest at the asylum seekers' eviction: "It seems utterly inconceivable that a country with such strong traditions of welfare provision, fairness and social cohesion could allow innocent persons to be evicted, banned from working, left without food and shelter, and effectively eliminated from society. But that is exactly what is likely to happen – unless something is done."
References
- ^ a b "New Catholic church leader welcomed". BBC News. UK. 21 February 2002. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ "Archbishop Mario Joseph Conti". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ISBN 0312175914.
- ^ BBC news online, 21 September 2000
- ^ "press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/29510.php?index=29510 - Translator". www.microsofttranslator.com. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- Glasgowtimes.co.uk. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ Peter Howson
- ^ Arandora Star
- ^ "Church accuses BBC of 'prejudice'". BBC News. 4 February 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2006.
- ^ BBC news online, 19 January 2000
- ^ Personnel Today, 12 September 2006
- ^ "Archbishops 'Reject gay rights move'". BBC News. 1 August 2003. Retrieved 6 August 2006.
- ^ Bannerman, Lucy (13 April 2007). "One of these men is a Biblethumping moralist the other a gay activist but which one wrote the hit So Macho". The Times. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ http://www.tomharris.org.uk/tag/archbishop-mario-conti/[permanent dead link]
- ^ Pink News, 10 October 2011
- ^ BBC news online, 10 October 2011
- ^ BBC News Website, 24 August 2009
- ^ BBC online news, 1 March 2004
- ^ John, Zuhlsdorf (15 August 2007). "Glaswegian Archbishop's hostility toward the Motu Proprio". WDTPRS. London. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- ^ "Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum on the "Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970" (July 7, 2007) - BENEDICT XVI". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 31 August 2017.