Mario Roberto Cassari
Mario Roberto Cassari (27 August 1943 – 19 August 2017) was an Italian
Biography
Mario Roberto Cassari was born in Ghilarza, Oristano, Sardinia, Italy on 27 August 1943. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ampurias-Tempio on 27 December 1969. He obtained a degree in theology and a licentiate in canon law at Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. From 1969 to 1974 he was parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Tempio Pausania, taught school, was a bishop’s secretary and studied pedagogy at the University of Sassari.[1]
He then studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 22 March 1977. He worked in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Pakistan, Colombia, Ecuador, Sudan, South Africa, Japan, Austria, Lithuania (Latvia/Estonia), Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro) and Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1] In 1987, when the departure of the Apostolic Nunzio to South Africa Joseph Mees left him temporarily in charge of the nunciature there, he addressed a meeting of South Africa’s bishops and directly contradicted Mees' position that Pope John Paul’s strictures against involvement in politics applied to South Africa bishops under apartheid. He received a standing ovation when he said:[2]
You, more than others, know your people, you live among them, you share their anxieties and their sorrows as a result of their everyday conditions. For all this you must shout even from the rooftops–in the name of God–that the time has come that South Africa really becomes a New South Africa.
On 3 August 1999
On 14 February 2008 Pope Benedict XVI named him Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia.[7] On 10 March 2012 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland,[8] adding Lesotho a week later.[9]
Pope Francis named him Apostolic Nuncio to Malta on 22 May 2015.[1][10]
He retired in April 2017 and died on 19 August 2017.[11]
Notes
- ^ a b c "Mgr Mario Roberto Cassari appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Malta". Malta Independent. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^ Kearney, Paddy (2009). Guardian of the Light: Denis Hurley: Renewing the Church, Opposing Apartheid. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 259. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XCI. 1999. p. 1005. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 31.07.2004" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 31 July 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 08.09.2004" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 8 September 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 12.06.2007" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 14.02.2008" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 10.03.2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 17.03.2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 17 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 22.05.2015" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Malta's former Apostolic Nuncio Mons. Mario Cassari passes away". Church in Malta. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2019.