Raniero Cantalamessa was born in Colli del Tronto, in Italy's Marche region, on 22 July 1934. A Capuchin Franciscan, he was ordained a priest in 1958 (Wikipedia gives 19 October; the Vatican bio gives the year) and taught ancient Christian history at the Università Cattolica in Milan until 1979, serving on the International Theological Commission (1975–81). In 1980 John Paul II appointed him Preacher to the Papal Household — the man who preaches the Good Friday and Advent homilies before the Pope and the Curia. Benedict XVI and Francis kept him in the post, which he held until 9 November 2024: forty-four years.
He is the author of widely translated spiritual works — The Mystery of Christmas (1988), Life in Christ (1997), Come, Creator Spirit (2003) — ran a weekly RAI television Gospel program for sixteen years (1994–2010), and led the US bishops' retreat in January 2019. Francis created him a cardinal on 28 November 2020, with the deaconry of Sant'Apollinare alle Terme, granting him at his request dispensation from episcopal consecration — a cardinal who never became a bishop. His motto is Veni Creator Spiritus — “come, Creator Spirit.”
Consequential Quotes
The time comes when we realize that all these adjustments no longer meet the current needs, but rather are an obstacle, so we must have the courage to knock them down and return the building to the simplicity and linearity of its origins.
These help us to overcome certain gloomy prospects of ours, making us realize that the great original schism afflicting the Church and impoverishing it is not so much the schism between East and West or between Catholics and Protestants, as the more radical one between the Church and Israel.
Major Works & Initiatives
Preacher to the Papal Household
Forty-four years under three popes.
The spiritual author
Widely translated meditations on Christ and the Spirit.
The TV preacher
Sixteen years of weekly RAI Gospel programs.
Controversies
The 2010 Good Friday comparison
In his 2010 Good Friday homily Cantalamessa read a letter from a Jewish friend comparing media treatment of the Pope in the abuse scandal to anti-Semitism; reporting presented it as his own implied comparison. He later clarified he was quoting the friend; Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he was not speaking as a Vatican official and the comparison could “lead to misunderstandings.”