Bruno Forte | |
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Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto | |
Archdiocese | Chieti-Vasto |
See | Chieti-Vasto |
Appointed | 26 June 2004 |
Installed | 25 September 2004 |
Predecessor | Edoardo Menichelli |
Orders | |
Ordination | 18 April 1973 by Corrado Ursi |
Consecration | 8 September 2004 by Joseph Ratzinger |
Personal details | |
Born |
Naples, Italy |
1 August 1949
Nationality | Italian |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Motto | lumen vitae Christus |
Coat of arms |
Styles of Bruno Forte |
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Reference style | The Most Reverend |
Spoken style | His Excellency |
Religious style | Monsignor |
Posthumous style | not applicable |
Bruno Forte (born 1 August 1949) is an Italian Roman Catholic theologian and ecclesiastic, currently Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto.
Archbishop Forte was born in Naples. He was ordained a priest on 18 April 1973. He studied at Tübingen University associated with Hans Küng, Joseph Ratzinger and Walter Kasper. He also spent time in Paris, before gaining a Laurea degree in philosophy from Naples university.
He was called "the most famous Italian theologian in Italy" and is seen as more progressive than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
In 2000, he oversaw the preparation of the Vatican document, "Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past", which led to the famous liturgy in St Peter’s Basilica in which St John Paul II asked God’s forgiveness for 2,000 years of sins. John Paul II asked him to preach the Vatican’s Lenten Spiritual Exercises in 2004.
He was appointed as Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto by Pope John Paul II on 26 June 2004. He was consecrated bishop by Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) on 8 September 2004; he is one of only 26 bishops consecrated by the former Pope.
After the election of Pope Benedict XVI Forte was seen by some as a possible successor to become Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, before William Levada was chosen.
After the tomb of Jesus was supposedly uncovered by James Cameron, Archbishop Forte said that "there are many such tombs in the territory of the Holy Land. Hence, there is nothing new in this revelation." He went on to say that "In fact, the thesis launched is that if Jesus is buried there with his family, then the resurrection would be no more than an invention of his disciples." He then concluded by defending the historicity of the Jesus' Resurrection saying, "However, leaving to one side the inconsistency of the archaeological proof, which has been utterly contested by Israeli archaeologists, the factual event of Jesus' resurrection is rigorously documented in the New Testament by the five accounts of the apparitions: four of the Gospels and St. Paul's." [1]