{{Short description|Italian cardinal}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Cardinal | honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] | name = Antonio Innocenti | title = [[Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei|President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei]] | church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] | appointed = 1 July 1991 | term_end = 16 December 1995 | predecessor = [[Paul Augustin Mayer]] | successor = [[Angelo Felici]] | other_post = [[Santa Maria in Aquiro|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Aquiro]] ''[[pro hac vice]]'' (1996–2008) | ordination = 17 July 1938 | ordained_by = Giovanni Giorgis | consecration = 18 February 1968 | consecrated_by = [[Amleto Giovanni Cicognani]] | cardinal = 25 May 1985 | created_cardinal_by = [[Pope John Paul II]] | rank = [[Cardinal-Deacon]] (1985–96)<br>[[Cardinal-Priest]] (1996–2008) | birth_name = Antonio Innocenti | birth_date = 23 August 1915 | birth_place = [[Poppi]], [[Fiesole]], [[Kingdom of Italy]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2008|09|06|1915|08|23}} | death_place = Piazza della Città Leonina 9, [[Vatican City]] | previous_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Apostolic Nunciature to Paraguay|Apostolic Nuncio to Paraguay]] (1967–73)|[[Eclano|Titular Archbishop of Eclano]] (1967–85)|[[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments|Secretary of the Congregation for Sacramental Discipline]] (1973–75)|Secretary of the Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship (1975–80)|[[Apostolic Nuncio to Spain]] (1980–85)|Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Aquiro (1985–96)|[[Congregation for the Clergy|Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy]] (1986–91)|[[Pontifical Council for Culture|President of the Pontifical Commission for Preserving the Church's Patrimony of Art and History]] (1988–91)}} | alma_mater = [[Pontifical Gregorian University]]<br>[[Pontifical Lateran University]]<br>[[Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy]] | motto = ''Lucet spero fide'' | image = Antonio Innocenti (cropped).jpg }}
{{infobox cardinalstyles | cardinal name=Antonio Innocenti | dipstyle=[[His Eminence]] | offstyle=Your Eminence | relstyle=[[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] | See=[[Aeclanum]] ([[titular see]]) }}
'''Antonio Innocenti''' (23 August 1915 – 6 September 2008) was an [[Italian people|Italian]] [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] who was a leading figure in the [[Roman Curia]] and the Vatican diplomatic service for many years.
==Biography== [[Image:Innocentigraf.jpg|thumb|left|Cardinal Innocenti's grave in Tosi.]] He was born at [[Poppi]], Italy. Ordained in 1938 at [[Florence]], Innocenti was studied at the [[Diocesan Seminary of Fiesole]], the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]] where he received a doctorate in 1941, the [[Pontifical Lateran University]], where he received a [[Licentiate (degree)|licentiate]] in [[dogmatic theology]] in 1950, and the [[Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy]], where he studied diplomacy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-i.htm|title=Biographical Directory: Innocenti, Antonio|last=Miranda|first=Salvatore|date=2014|website=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|publisher=Florida International University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305030913/https://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-i.htm|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live|access-date=15 February 2018}}</ref> He served as a priest in northern Italy for the decade following his ordination. His work helping Jews led to his arrest and almost being shot by a firing squad; he was released at the last minute. He was then called to Rome by [[Pope Pius XII]] and settled on a career in the Curia. He served for most of the 1950s and 1960s in the Papal Nunciature in [[Switzerland]], where, as he saw it, the major problems were "an opulent society, religious assistance to immigrants and relations with Christian of other denominations".
On 15 December 1967, [[Pope Paul VI]] named him [[Titular Archbishop]] of [[Eclano]] and Apostolic Nuncio to [[Paraguay]]. He was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments (now the [[Congregation for Divine Worship]]) until 1980, when he became Nuncio to Spain.
In 1985, [[Pope John Paul II]] made him a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]], and on 9 January 1986 appointed him [[Prefect]] of the [[Congregation for the Clergy]],<ref>{{cite book | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis| access-date = 31 August 2019 |page= 210 | date=1986| url = https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-78-1986-ocr.pdf | volume = LXXVIII }}</ref> a post he held until his retirement in 1991. During Innocenti's time as Prefect, the Curia was extremely busy dealing with what was perceived as dangerous dissent from papal teaching, and Innocenti was heavily involved with many lay movements designed to restore orthodoxy among the Church's members.
By 1999 he had retired to Piazza della Citta Leonina.
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-i.htm#Innocenti Biography]
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{s-bef|before=[[Luigi Dadaglio]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Apostolic Nuncio to Spain]]|years=4 October 1980 – 9 January 1986}} {{s-aft|after=[[Mario Tagliaferri]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Silvio Oddi]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Congregation for the Clergy|Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy]]|years=1986–1991}} {{s-aft|after=[[José Tomás Sánchez]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Paul Augustin Mayer|Paul Mayer]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei|President of the Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'']]|years=1991–1995}} {{s-aft|after=[[Angelo Felici]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Cardinals created by John Paul II}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Innocenti, Antonio}} [[Category:20th-century Italian cardinals]] [[Category:21st-century Italian cardinals]] [[Category:1915 births]] [[Category:2008 deaths]] [[Category:Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni]] [[Category:Pontifical Gregorian University alumni]] [[Category:Pontifical Lateran University alumni]] [[Category:Prefects of the Congregation for the Clergy]] [[Category:Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church]] [[Category:Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops]]