Sebastiano Baggio

Born in Rosà, Veneto, Sebastiano was ordained a priest on 21 December 1935, at the age of 22, in Vicenza. He took postgraduate studies and joined the Holy See's diplomatic service with a first posting as attaché to the Apostolic nunciature in Austria in 1938.

In 1953 he was consecrated Archbishop and became in succession, Apostolic Nuncio, Chile 1953-59; Apostolic Delegate, Canada 1959-64; and Apostolic Nuncio, Brazil 1964-69. In 1969 he was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 1969 by Pope Paul VI and left the diplomatic service to become Archbishop of Cagliari, Sardinia. Four years later, in 1973, he returned to Rome to take up a series of appointments in the Roman Curia.

One of the most influential posts he held in Rome - between 1973 and 1984 - was Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, whose task is to prepare lists of candidates for the episcopacy. One obituary in the London Independent noted that: "though Baggio always insisted that he was not the bishop-maker - he proposed while the Pope alone disposed - he did in effect have considerable powers of patronage. He had immense knowledge of the dossiers of possible candidates, and knew their weaknesses for drink or women.".[2] He was credited as a talent spotter in furthering the episcopal career of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo who shared many of Baggio's concern at the direction of the Church in South America.[3]

The same obituary, written by the respected Catholic journalist Peter Hebblethwaite, drew attention to Baggio's relationship with Opus Dei and his battles with Fr Pedro Arrupe, the Jesuit General, over the future of Central American policy: "Baggio - and Pope John Paul - wanted a 'unitary policy' for Central America which the Jesuits and other religious thought impossible in view of the different situations: civil war in El Salvador, dictatorship in Panama, a post-revolutionary regime in Nicaragua, and a persecuting born-again General in Guatemala." [4]

He participated in the two conclaves of 1978 and when he died in 1993 at Rome at age 79 was both Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, and a sub dean of the College of Cardinals. He had been a priest for 57 years, a bishop for 39 years and a cardinal for 23 years. Described as "affable, smiling, squat and somewhat worldly, Baggio was deeply attached to his native Rosà and not only willed that his remains were to be buried in the family tomb but inside the local cemetery."

• Catholic Hierarchy
• Bishop-maker Baggio is dead