Nine months after being created a cardinal during Pope Francis' last consistory, Italian Angelo Acerbi celebrated his 100th birthday on September 23. This former diplomat of the Holy See has been the faithful servant of eight popes. He began his career under Pius XII, and at one point was held hostage in Colombia. He’s the fifth cardinal in the history of the Church to reach the age of 100.
His name, unknown to the general public, came as a surprise during Pope Francis' last consistory in December 2024. At the age of 99, he became the oldest cardinal in history to be created, crowning a very busy career.
Angelo Acerbi was born on September 23, 1925, in Sesta Godano, a village in northwestern Italy. He was ordained a priest at the age of 22 in March 1948, before entering the papal diplomatic service in 1956, during the pontificate of Pius XII. He’s probably one of the last direct witnesses to the work of the Vatican at a time “that those under 100 years of age cannot know.”
As a priest, he lived through the years of the Second Vatican Council and the profound transformations in the life of the Church under the pontificates of Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI. He worked in the papal representations in Colombia, Brazil, France, Japan, and Portugal, and in the Secretariat of State in Rome.
In June 1974, Paul VI ordained him bishop and appointed him apostolic pro-nuncio to New Zealand and apostolic delegate to the Pacific Ocean. This mission came to him in the complex context of decolonization for some of these small territories scattered across a vast maritime area. He was then the first Vatican representative to be sent on a permanent and official basis to this part of the world, which Paul VI had visited four years earlier.
A valuable hostage for the Colombian guerrillas
In 1979, John Paul II appointed Monsignor Angelo Acerbi as apostolic nuncio to Colombia. This was more than 20 years after his first period of service in this country as advisor to the nunciature. Now, he found himself back on familiar ground, but directly confronted with civil war.
In February 1980, along with 26 other prominent figures, including many diplomats, he was taken hostage after guerrillas from the “April 19 Movement” stormed the Dominican Republic embassy, where a reception was being held.
Held captive for several weeks, Monsignor Acerbi was nevertheless respected in his status as a priest and was given permission to celebrate Mass every day for those present. This led to a surprising statement from a member of the guerrilla group. Announcing the release of some of the hostages for Holy Week “in honor of the Catholic Church, the Church of the oppressed,” the woman nevertheless stated that the Vatican ambassador would remain captive.
“He’s a very important person from a tactical point of view,” she said. But above all, she put forward another, absolutely unanswerable argument: “Besides, if we release him, who will celebrate Mass every morning?”
Monsignor Acerbi was nevertheless released shortly afterwards by this extreme left-wing armed movement, from which the current Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, hails.
Service in Europe
After serving in Colombia for more than a decade, the apostolic nuncio was transferred in the 1990s to calmer European countries. First he went to Hungary and Moldova, where he became the first nuncio after the fall of the communist regimes. Then, he received a position in the Netherlands, one of the most secularized countries in the world. He subsequently became prelate of the Order of Malta from 2001 to 2015, retiring only at the age of 90.
During the 2024 consistory, he told the Vatican media that he saw his creation as a cardinal as “a sign of appreciation and recognition for the service that so many old and new nuncios [...] are performing throughout the world.”
Surprised by his appointment at such an advanced age, he admitted that he was discovering his new status “with great gratitude and appreciation, but also with a little fear because it’s always a great novelty for everyone, but especially for the elderly.”
First on the list of new cardinals, he stood and delivered the speech of thanks to the Pope at the beginning of the ceremony.
He expressed his emotion after the death of Pope Francis last April, confiding to a local television station in Liguria, his native region, his “affection” and “admiration” for the Argentine pontiff, who was much younger than him and whom he had had time to visit one last time at his residence in Santa Marta.
