{{Short description|Argentinian cardinal & Nazi sympathiser (1889-1979)}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = cardinal | honorific-prefix = [[His Eminence]] | name = Antonio Caggiano | honorific-suffix = | title = [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|Archbishop of Buenos Aires]] | image = Antonio Caggiano.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | church = Catholic Church | archdiocese = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires]] | appointed = 15 August 1959 | enthroned = 25 October 1959 | ended = 22 April 1975 | predecessor = [[Santiago Copello]]<br/>[[Fermín Emilio Lafitte|Fermín Lafitte]] (ad interim) | successor = [[Juan Carlos Aramburu]] | ordination = 23 March 1912 | consecration = 17 March 1935 | consecrated_by = [[Filippo Cortesi]] | cardinal = 18 February 1946 | created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Pius XII|Pius XII]] | rank = [[Cardinal priest]] | other_post = [[San Lorenzo in Panisperna|Cardinal-Priest of San Lorenzo in Panisperna]] <!---------- Personal details ----------> | birth_name = Antonio Caggiano | birth_date = {{Birth date|1889|1|30}} | birth_place = [[Coronda]], Santa Fe Province, Argentina | death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|10|23|1889|1|30}} | death_place = [[Buenos Aires]] | buried = [[Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral]] | religion = Catholic | residence = | parents = | alma_mater = Seminary of Santa Fe | signature = }} {{Infobox cardinalstyles| cardinal name=Antonio Caggiano| dipstyle=His Eminence| offstyle=Your Eminence| See=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires]]||image=Coat of arms of Antonio Caggiano.svg}}
'''Antonio Caggiano''' (30 January 1889 – 23 October 1979) was an [[archbishop]] and a [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in [[Argentina]]. He played a part in helping Nazi sympathisers and war criminals escape prosecution in Europe by easing their passage to South America.
==Biography== Caggiano was born in [[Coronda]], Santa Fe Province. He studied in the seminary of [[Santa Fe, Argentina|Santa Fe]] and became a priest there in 1908, at the age of 23. From 1913 to 1931 he taught at the seminary. In the 1920s he was sent to [[Rome]] by the Argentine episcopacy, together with three other priests, in order to study the organization of the ''[[Azione Cattolica]]'' (the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Catholic Action]]). The Argentine [[Catholic Action]] was founded in 1931 following this model.
Caggiano was appointed the first [[bishop]] of the newly erected [[Archdiocese of Rosario|Diocese of Rosario]] on 13 September 1934, for which he was consecrated on 14 March 1935. [[Pope Pius XII]] elevated him to Cardinal on 18 February 1946.
In his 2002 book ''The Real Odessa''<ref name="UG1">From the 'Perón tapes' he recorded the year before his death, published in ''Yo, Domingo Perón'', Luca de Tena ''et al.''; this translation as quoted in [[Uki Goñi]]'s ''The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina'', Granta (revised edition) 2003, p. 100</ref> [[Uki Goñi]] showed that Argentine diplomats and intelligence officers had, on [[Perón]]'s instructions, vigorously encouraged Nazi and Fascist war criminals to make their home in Argentina. Argentina's first move into Nazi smuggling was in January 1946, when Caggiano flew with Bishop Agustín Barrére to Rome where Caggiano was due to be created cardinal. While in Rome, the Argentine bishops met with French Cardinal [[Eugène Tisserant]], where they passed on a message (recorded in Argentina's diplomatic archives) that "the Government of the Argentine Republic was willing to receive French persons, whose [[Collaboration during World War II|political attitude]] during the recent war would expose them, should they return to France, to harsh measures and private revenge". Over the spring of 1946 a number of French war criminals, [[French Fascism|fascists]] and [[Vichy France|Vichy]] officials made it from Italy to Argentina in the same way: they were issued passports by the Rome [[International Committee of the Red Cross|ICRC]] office; these were then stamped with Argentine tourist visas (the need for health certificates and return tickets was waived on Caggiano's recommendation). The first documented case of a French war criminal arriving in Buenos Aires was [[Emile Dewoitine]], who was later sentenced in absentia to 20 years hard labour. He sailed first class on the same ship back with Cardinal Caggiano.<ref>Goñi, ''The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina'', Granta (revised edition) 2003, pp. 96–98</ref><ref>Uki Goñi, ''The Real Odessa'', Granta, London, 2002, and [http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-14198-2002-12-15.html La Odessa que creó Perón], ''[[Pagina/12]]'', 15 December 2002 {{in lang|es}} quote: "el cardenal Caggiano viajó al Vaticano en 1946 y ofreció en nombre del gobierno argentino al país como refugio de los criminales de guerra franceses escondidos en Roma."</ref>
Caggiano participated in the [[Papal conclave, 1958|1958]] and [[Papal conclave, 1963|1963 Papal conclaves]], but his age prevented him from participating in the conclaves of 1978.
On 15 August 1959 he was appointed [[Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|Archbishop of Buenos Aires]]. He was installed there on 25 October. On 14 December of that year he was also appointed head of the [[military ordinariate|Military Ordinariate]] of Argentina.
Caggiano retired from the Archbishopric on 22 April 1975, and resigned from the Military Ordinariate on 7 July of the same year. He was the Archbishop Emeritus of Buenos Aires for four more years. He died in 1979, at the age of 90, and was buried in the [[Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires]].
==Views==
===''Le Marxisme-Léninisme''=== In 1961, Caggiano wrote a prologue for the Spanish translation by Juan Francisco Guevara (who later became a colonel) of ''Le Marxisme-léninisme'', written by [[Jean Ousset]], private secretary of [[monarchism|monarchist]] intellectual [[Charles Maurras]], and founder of the ''[[Cité catholique]]'' [[Catholic fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] organization. The book states that Marxism–Leninism can be successfully combated only by a "profound faith, an unlimited obedience to the Holy Father, and a thorough knowledge of the Church's doctrines"; and Caggiano thanked the "men of ''La Ciudad Católica'' of Argentina" for publishing the book.<ref name="Verbitsky4">Quoted by [[Horacio Verbitsky]], in ''The Silence'', extract transl. in English made available by [[openDemocracy]]: [http://www.opendemocracy.net/content/articles/PDF/2709.pdf Breaking the silence: the Catholic Church in Argentina and the "dirty war"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061122064808/http://www.opendemocracy.net/content/articles/PDF/2709.pdf |date=2006-11-22 }}, July 28, 2005, p.4</ref>
Along with Colonel [[Jean Gardes]], French expert in [[psychological warfare]], Ousset developed the new concept of "[[subversion (politics)|subversion]]". According to [[Horacio Verbitsky]], an Argentine-Jewish member of the far-left [[Montoneros]] paramilitary, who does not say that it was expounded in the book, this concept "conceived a protean, quintessential enemy who, rather than being defined by his actions, was seen as a force trying to subvert Christian order, [[natural law]] or the Creator's plan."<ref>Verbitsky, ''ibid.'', p. 3</ref> Verbitsky also says that the ''Cité catholique'' included members of the [[Organisation de l'armée secrète|OAS]] terrorist group founded in Madrid during the [[Algerian War]], and that the first branch outside France was created in 1958 in Argentina.<ref>Verbitsky, ''ibid.'', p. 3</ref>
In this prologue, Caggiano explained that Marxism is born of "the negation of Christ and his Church put into practice by the [[Revolution]]" and spoke of a Marxist conspiracy to take over the world, for which it was necessary to "prepare for the decisive battle," although the enemy had not yet "taken up arms." Caggiano compared this vigilance to the one that preceded the 1571 [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]] "to save Europe from domination by the Turks".<ref name="Verbitsky4"/> Ousset's book included a list of the [[papal bull]]s condemning communism.
On this basis, Verbitsky, a member of the far-left [[Montoneros]] paramilitary, attributed to Caggiano support for "human rights violations", commenting: "As often happens in a continent that imports ideas, the doctrine of annihilation preceded that of the revolutionary uprising."<ref name="Verbitsky4"/>
===Counter-insurgency=== In October 1961, Caggiano, who was then vicar of the Argentine Military Ordinariate, participated in the inauguration ceremony of the first course on [[counter-revolutionary warfare]] in the Higher Military College at the side of President [[Arturo Frondizi]], who within a few months was ousted, accused, Verbitsky says, of being too tolerant towards communism.
Verbitsky says that Bishop Victorio Bonamín, Caggiano's associate in the military [[vicariate]] general, was one of the instructors in the course, but not Caggiano himself. He also says that in the course of [[counterinsurgency|counter-insurgency]] classes cadets at the [[Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics|Navy Mechanics School]] were shown the film ''[[The Battle of Algiers (film)|The Battle of Algiers]]'' (1966), made by Italian communist director [[Gillo Pontecorvo]]. The film, which was [[censorship in France|censored in France]], showed the methods used by the [[French Armed Forces|French colonial army]] in Algeria, including the [[Torture during the Algerian War|systemic use of torture]]. The naval chaplain (again, not Caggiano) introduced the film and added a commentary from the religious point of view, reportedly justifying the use of torture as a weapon.
==See also== *[[Marie-Monique Robin]] *[[Dirty War]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * Hernán Pacheco, Pablo Carrera. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061128035629/http://www.nuncamas.org/investig/varela/varela_12.htm ''Los que no están''. ''Desaparecidos y dictadura cívico-militar en Florencio Varela (1976 – 1983)'']. * [[Horacio Verbitsky]], OpenDemocracy. 28 July 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160414055231/https://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/catholicchurch_2709.jsp Breaking the silence: the Catholic Church in Argentina and the "dirty war"]. * {{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bcaggiano|Antonio Caggiano}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=''none'' | title=[[Archdiocese of Rosario|Bishop of Rosario]] | years=1934–1959| after=[[Silvino Martínez]] }} {{succession box | before=[[Fermín Emilio Lafitte]] | title=[[Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|Archbishop of Buenos Aires]] | years=1959–1975| after=[[Juan Carlos Aramburu]] }} {{succession box | before=[[Josef Frings]] | title=[[Protopriest of the College of Cardinals|Cardinal Protopriest]] | years=1978–1979| after=[[Carlos Carmelo Vasconcellos Motta|Carlos Vasconcellos]] }} {{s-ach|rec}} {{succession box | title = [[List of living cardinals|Oldest living Member of the Sacred College]] | years = 5 September – 23 October 1979 | before = [[Alberto di Jorio]] | after = [[Carlos Carmelo Vasconcellos Motta|Carlos Vascocellos]] }} {{s-end}}
{{Cardinals created by Pius XII}} {{Second Vatican Council}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caggiano, Antonio}} [[Category:1889 births]] [[Category:1979 deaths]] [[Category:People from San Jerónimo Department]] [[Category:Argentine people of Italian descent]] [[Category:Argentine collaborators with Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII]] [[Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Buenos Aires]] [[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Argentina]] [[Category:Argentine cardinals]] [[Category:Argentine fascists]] [[Category:Burials at Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral]] [[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]] [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Rosario]] [[Category:Christian fascists]] [[Category:Protopriests]] [[Category:Cardinal-priests of San Lorenzo in Panisperna]]