Francesco Borgongini Duca

{{Short description|Italian cardinal}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] |name = Francesco Borgongini Duca |title = [[Basilica di San Paolo fuori le mura|Pontifical Administrator for the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le mura]] |church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] |appointed = 1 April 1933 |term_end = 4 October 1954 |successor = [[Marcello Costalunga]] |other_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Basilica della Santa Casa|Pontifical Delegate for the Shrine of Loreto]] (1934–54)|[[Santa Maria in Vallicella|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Vallicella]] (1953–54)}} |ordination = 22 December 1906 |consecration = 29 June 1929 |consecrated_by = [[Pietro Gasparri]] |cardinal = 12 January 1953 |created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Pius XII]] |rank = [[Cardinal-priest]] |birth_name = Francesco Borgongini Duca |birth_date = 26 February 1884 |birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Kingdom of Italy]] |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1954|10|04|1884|02|26}} |death_place = [[Palace of the Holy Office]], Rome, [[Italy]] |buried = [[Campo Verano]] {{small|(first)}}<br />San Salvatore in Ossibus {{small|(current)}} |parents = Giovanni Borgongini Duca<br />Rosa Scalzi |previous_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs|Pro-Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs]] (1921–22)|Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1922–29)|[[Apostolic Nuncio to Italy]] (1929–53)}} |alma_mater = [[Pontifical Roman Seminary]] |motto = ''Cana fides'' |coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Francesco Borgongini Duca.svg }}

{{Infobox cardinal styles | cardinal name = Francesco Borgongini Duca | dipstyle = [[His Eminence]] | offstyle = Your Eminence | relstyle = [[Monsignor]] | See = | deathstyle = | image = Coat of arms of Francesco Borgongini Duca.svg | image_size = 100px }}

'''Francesco Borgongini Duca''' (26 February 1884 – 4 October 1954) was an Italian [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] of the [[Catholic Church]] who served as [[Apostolic Nuncio to Italy]] from 1929 to 1953 and was made a cardinal in 1953 by [[Pope Pius XII]].

==Biography== [[File:Francesco Borgongini Duca 1937.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Borgongini Duca in 1937]] Borgongini Duca was born in [[Rome]], and studied at the [[Pontifical Roman Seminary]], from where he obtained doctorates in [[Doctor of Theology|theology]] and in [[Doctor of Canon and Civil Law|canon and civil law]]. He was [[Holy orders in the Catholic Church|ordained]] to the [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priesthood]] on 22 December 1906, and then taught [[theology]] at both the [[Pontifical North American College]] and the [[Pontifical Urbaniana University|Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum ''De Propaganda Fide'']] from 1907 to 1909. He was favorably impressed by a young American seminarian named [[Francis Spellman]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121022125009/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852693-3,00.html "America in Rome"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 25 February 1946.</ref> whom Duca would later assist in consecrating as [[Auxiliary Bishop]] [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston|of Boston]] in 1932.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090525152032/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744398,00.html "Crosier & Mitre"]. ''Time''. 19 September 1932.</ref>

Borgongini Duca entered the service of the [[Roman Curia]] upon being made an official of the [[Apostolic Penitentiary]] in 1909, of which he became secretary on 24 February 1917. He was raised to the rank of [[Monsignor|privy chamberlain of his holiness]] on 2 March 1917, and was named [[Promagistrate|pro]]-secretary of the [[Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs|Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs]] on 28 June 1921, rising to become full secretary on 14 October 1922 (the pope was the nominal head of that [[dicastery]]). He was made a [[Monsignor|domestic prelate of his holiness]] (7 July 1921) and [[apostolic protonotary]] (11 January 1927) before being named to the commission to negotiate the [[Lateran Treaty]].

On 7 June 1929, he was appointed [[Titular bishop|Titular Archbishop]] of Heraclea in Europa by [[Pope Pius XI]]. He received his [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|episcopal consecration]] on the following 29 June from Cardinal [[Pietro Gasparri]], with Archbishop [[Carlo Cremonesi]] and Bishop [[Agostino Zampini]], [[Augustinians|OSA]], serving as [[Consecrator|co-consecrators]], in the [[Hall of Benedictions]] at [[St. Peter's Basilica]]. Duca was named [[Apostolic Nuncio to Italy]], the first after the Lateran Treaty, the next day, on 30 June. In addition to his diplomatic duties, he was also made pontifical administrator of the [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]] on 1 April 1933, and of the [[Basilica della Santa Casa|Basilica of Our Lady of Loreto]] on 25 March 1934.

In early 1937, he bestowed the [[Golden Rose]] on [[Elena of Montenegro|Queen Elena of Italy]], on the occasion of her fortieth wedding anniversary to [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070314235403/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757379,00.html "Laetare Sunday"]. ''Time''. 15 March 1927.</ref> During [[World War II]], [[Benito Mussolini]] clashed with Duca over the issue of restricting Jewish converts to Catholicism.<ref>Shoah Rose. [http://www.shoahrose.com/wwiinuncios.html Papal Nuncios of 1933-1945: Ambassadors of the Vatican in the Shoah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110144110/http://www.shoahrose.com/wwiinuncios.html |date=10 January 2015 }}</ref> In 1952, he wrote ''The Seventy Weeks of Daniel and the Messianic Date'', in which he determined the date of the [[crucifixion of Jesus]] as 7 April 30 [[Anno Domini|AD]], by using the [[Cryptography|cryptographic]] prophecies contained in the [[Book of Daniel]].<ref name=milesstones>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930084415/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936541,00.html "Milestones"]. ''Time''. 18 October 1954.</ref> [[Pope Pius XII]] created him [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Priest]] of [[Santa Maria in Vallicella]] in the [[Papal consistory|consistory]] of 12 January 1953, ending his role as nuncio.

Duca died from a heart ailment<ref name=milesstones/> at his apartment in the [[Palace of the Holy Office]] in Rome at age 70. He was initially buried in the chapel of the [[Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples|Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith]], but his remains were later transferred to the church of [[San Salvatore in Ossibus]] in [[Vatican City]].

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{commonscat}}

*[https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-b.htm#Borgongini Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church] *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bborduc.html Catholic-Hierarchy]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title=[[Apostolic Nuncio to Italy]] | before=New office| after=[[Giuseppe Fietta]]| years=30 June 1929 – 12 January 1953|}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duca, Francesco Borgongini}} [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII]] [[Category:1884 births]] [[Category:1954 deaths]] [[Category:Clergy from Rome]] [[Category:20th-century Italian cardinals]] [[Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops]] [[Category:Pontifical Roman Seminary alumni]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Italy]] [[Category:Secretaries for Relations with States of the Holy See]]