{{Short description|Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal (1922–1998)}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] |name = Alberto Bovone |title = [[Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] |church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] |appointed = 13 June 1995 |term_end = 17 April 1998 |predecessor = [[Angelo Felici]] |successor = [[José Saraiva Martins]] |other_post = Cardinal-Deacon of Ognissanti in Via Appia Nuova (1998) |ordination = 26 May 1945 |ordained_by = Giuseppe Angrisani |consecration = 12 May 1984 |consecrated_by = [[Pope Benedict XVI|Joseph Alois Ratzinger]] |cardinal = 21 February 1998 |created_cardinal_by = [[Pope John Paul II]] |rank = [[Cardinal-Deacon]] |birth_name = Alberto Bovone |birth_date = 11 June 1922 |birth_place = [[Frugarolo]], [[Kingdom of Italy]] |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1998|04|17|1922|06|11}} |death_place = [[Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic]], [[Rome]], [[Italy]] |previous_post = [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith|Undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] (1973-1984)<br>[[Caesarea in Numidia|Titular Archbishop of Cesarea in Numidia]] (1984-1998)<br>Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1984-1995) |alma_mater = [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas]] |motto = ''Fidelis et prudens''<br>("Faithful and prudent") |coat_of_arms = Stemma Cardinale Alberto Bovone.svg }}

{{infobox cardinalstyles |image=Stemma Cardinale Alberto Bovone.svg |cardinal name=Alberto Bovone |dipstyle=His Eminence |offstyle=Your Eminence |See=none }}

'''Alberto Bovone''' (11 June 1922 &ndash; 17 April 1998) was an Italian [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] of the [[Catholic Church]]. He served as [[Prefect]] of the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] from 1995 until his death. Pope John Paul II elevated Bovone to the [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinalate]] in 1998, shortly before his death in the same year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=III |first=Harris M. Lentz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ |title=Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2015-07-11 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2155-5 |pages=29 |language=en}}</ref>

Alberto Bovone was born in [[Frugarolo]], and attended the [[seminary]] in [[Alessandria]]. [[Holy Orders|Ordained]] to the [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priesthood]] on 26 May 1945, he then did [[Parish (Catholic Church)|pastoral]] work for a year before continuing his studies from 1946 until 1951 at the [[University of Turin]] and the [[Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)]] in [[Rome]] (where he obtained his [[Doctor of Canon Law|doctorate in canon law]]). Bovone entered the [[Roman Curia]] as an official of the [[Congregation for the Clergy|Congregation for the Council]] in October 1951, and was later made [[Undersecretary]] of the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] on 21 May 1973.

[[Pope John Paul II]] named him [[Titular bishop|Titular Archbishop]] of ''[[Cherchell|Caesarea in Numidia]]'' on 5 April 1984 and [[Secretary]] of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith three days later, on 8 April. Bovone received his [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|episcopal consecration]] on the following 12 May from [[Pope Benedict XVI|Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger]], with Bishop [[Ferdinando Maggioni]] and Archbishop [[Luigi Dadaglio]] serving as [[Consecrator|co-consecrators]]. Bovone was the first person ordained as a Bishop by Ratzinger, who would later become [[Pope Benedict XVI]].

As Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he was the second-highest official of that [[dicastery]], under Ratzinger. In 1987, he helped write the instruction [[Donum vitae]] on the respect for human life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reese |first=Thomas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QNFIv2Hm2mYC |title=A Flock of Shepherds: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops |date=1992 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-55612-557-7 |pages=262 |language=en}}</ref> In 1986 he issued, with Ratzinger, a letter to all bishops "on the pastoral care of homosexual persons" that was hostile to gay "inclinations" (which it said were a "strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil") and relationships, calling them "fundamentally disordered" as they were "unable to transmit life"; this stridently recalcitrant position was (albeit much later, in 2021) moderated somewhat by further guidance<ref>{{Cite web |title=Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex |url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html |access-date=2026-03-28 |website=press.vatican.va}}</ref> from the same congregation during the papacy of [[Pope Francis]].

Bovone was later appointed to head the [[Congregation for the Causes of the Saints]] on 13 June 1995. As he had yet to be raised to the [[College of Cardinals]], he only held the title of Pro-Prefect of the congregation, until John Paul II created him [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Deacon]] of ''[[List of titular churches in Rome|Ognissanti in Via Appia Nuova]]'' in the [[Papal consistory|consistory]] of 21 February 1998, and Bovone became full Prefect of the Causes of the Saints two days later, on 23 February.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=1998-04-22 |title=Alberto Bovone, Italian Cardinal, 75 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/22/world/alberto-bovone-italian-cardinal-75.html |access-date=2023-12-04 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The Cardinal died in Rome two months later, at the age of 75. He is buried in his family's plot in [[Frugarolo]].

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-b.htm#Bovone Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church] *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbovone.html Catholic-Hierarchy] *[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19980420_cardeal-bovone_en.html John Paul II's Homily at Cardinal Bovone's Funeral Mass]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=[[Jean Jérôme Hamer]] | title=[[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith|Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]]| after=[[Tarcisio Bertone]] | years=5 April 1984 &ndash; 13 June 1995}} {{succession box | before=[[Angelo Felici]] | title=[[Congregation for the Causes of Saints|Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints]]| after=[[José Saraiva Martins]] | years=13 June 1995 &ndash; 17 April 1998}} {{s-end}}

{{Cardinals created by John Paul II}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bovone, Alberto}} [[Category:1922 births]] [[Category:1998 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Italian cardinals]] [[Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops]] [[Category:Members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith]] [[Category:Members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:People from Frugarolo]] [[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II]]