Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cipriani and the second or maternal family name is Thorne.
His Eminence

Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne
Cardinal
Archbishop Emeritus of Lima
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseLima
SeeLima
Appointed9 January 1999
Installed30 January 1999
Term ended25 January 2019
PredecessorAugusto Vargas Alzamora
SuccessorCarlos Castillo Mattasoglio
Other post(s)
Orders
Ordination21 August 1977
Consecration3 July 1988
by Juan Landázuri Ricketts
Created cardinal21 February 2001
by Pope John Paul II
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born
Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne

(1943-12-28) 28 December 1943 (age 80)
Lima, Peru
NationalityPeruvian
DenominationRoman Catholic
ParentsEnrique Cipriani Vargas
Isabel Thorne Larrabure
Previous post(s)
Alma mater
MottoConsummati in unum
Coat of armsJuan Luis Cipriani Thorne's coat of arms
Styles of
Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal
SeeLima

Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne (born 28 December 1943) is a Peruvian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Lima from 1999 to 2019. He has been a bishop since 1988 and was made a cardinal in 2001.

Early life and career[edit]

Cipriani attended the Colegio Santa Maria Marianistas, a Catholic school, and as a young man he was a member of the Peruvian national basketball team for six years.[1] He studied industrial engineering at the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in Lima, Peru, and worked as an engineer.

He was ordained as a priest for Opus Dei on 21 August 1977. He earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Navarra. He did pastoral work in Lima, taught at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology, and was regional vicar for Peru and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Piura.

Service in Ayacucho[edit]

On 23 May 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed him titular Bishop of Turuzi and Auxiliary Bishop of Ayacucho and he received his episcopal consecration on 3 July from Cardinal Juan Landázuri Ricketts. He was named Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese upon the retirement of Archbishop Federico Richter Fernandez-Prada on 23 May 1991.[2] He was named Archbishop of Ayacucho on 13 May 1995. He held an appointment in the Roman Curia as consultor of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1990 to 1999.[3]

Ayacucho was the center of Peru's battle against the Shining Path, a violent revolutionary movement. Cipriani became an uncompromising voice for military suppression. In 1991, he said that "Most human rights organizations are just covering the tails of political movements, almost all of them Marxist and Maoist."[4] In October 1992, after the capture of Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, Cipriani advocated he be executed. In July 1993, after the Peruvian Bishops' Conference called the death penalty a "grave sin", he said: "We can not allow the country not to support the death penalty because of fear, the fear and cowardice of a few.... The world changes day by day and not in favor of cowards. We are in a time of firmness, clarity and manhood."[5] In 1995, he backed legislation to shield the Peruvian military and police from prosecution for activities undertaken as part of the suppression of radical movements.[6]

Cipriani was chancellor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) in 1997 when it barred a gay student organisation, Parenthesis Collective (Colectivo Paréntesis), from holding events. He had a pamphlet titled "Sexual Identity: Is It Possible to Choose?" prepared and distributed. It described homosexuality as a curable illness.[7][8]

During the 1996–1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis, he was named by President Fujimori to a trio of mediators to seek a peaceful resolution and the release of the hostages.[9][10]

Service in Lima[edit]

Pope John Paul II named him Archbishop of Lima in 1999. In January 2000 he was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Bishop's Conference and head of its Commission for Education.[3]

Cipriani was made Cardinal-Priest of San Camillo de Lellis by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 2001.[11] He was the first priest incardinated into Opus Dei to be made a cardinal.[4] On 15 May 2001, John Paul named him a member of two bodies of the Roman Curia, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.[12]

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Cipriani regularly denounced efforts to recognize same-sex relationships. In 2005, Cipriani commented on the recent legalization of same-sex unions in Spain. He denounced the existence of a worldwide campaign and warned that by legalising same-sex unions, society is disfigured. He said: "In today’s world, evil disguises itself as good, it is imposed on others, and woe to him who does not accept it!". He called on the faithful not to refer to relationships that "are not between a man and a woman" as marriage. He said: "Call it what you want but don't sell damaged goods, don't traffic in that dictatorship of moral relativism in which there is nothing good, only opinions and trends of thought."[13] In 2013, he opposed legislation to create same-sex civil unions in Peru. He called it "an old strategy" that "starts by putting the shoe on the door with this law, and ends up asking for marriage between homosexuals". He said everyone was free to enter into contracts with one another, "but it is not necessary to start making a caricature of marriage and then destroy it".[14]

In April 2008 he banned the practice of receiving Communion in the hand, requiring instead that the faithful receive on the tongue. He said that "the relaxed attitude of many priests" was to blame for a decline in reverence for the Eucharist among the faithful.[15]

On 19 July 2011, he was named a member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America by Pope Benedict XVI.[16]

From 2007 to 2016, he fought with the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, which resisted his attempts to assert control over its financial and academic affairs. Though he was supported by the Vatican under Pope Benedict for several years, the dispute was eventually resolved by the intervention of Pope Francis with an accord that sidelined Cipriani.[17]

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.[18] He was mentioned at the time as a possible candidate for election to the papacy, though not among the most likely.[19]

In a televised discussion about abortion on the program Diálogos de fe, he explained, "Statistics tell us that girls get abortions, but it is not because these girls were violated, but because, often, the woman puts herself on provoking display." The Archdiocese responded to widespread criticism of that statement by explaining that Castillo was characterizing the immodest presentation of women on television.[20]

Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Lima on 25 January 2019.[21] Though nominated four times, he was never elected to head the Peruvian Bishops' Conference.[22] He was also Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.[when?]

Human rights record[edit]

Main article: Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)

Peru's Truth Commission investigated human rights abuses committed by government forces during the 1980s and 1990s. It concluded that Cipriani had failed to defend human rights while auxiliary bishop and archbishop of Ayacucho. Cipriani rejected the report's findings which was widely accepted by the public.[23] The Commission cited testimony by victims of the political violence in Ayacucho, the birthplace of the PCP-Shining Path. Its Final Report identified Cipriani as the only religious leader that did not support the work of Peru's Human Rights Coordinator, "whose activities he repeatedly pronounced himself in opposition to".[24]

The Commission wrote:

"Every day people disappeared in Ayacucho in those years, it was a very serious problem, as well as torture and murder, but Mgr. Cipriani never questioned the human rights violations committed by the forces of order, on the contrary, held constant and "It can not be said that Peru is a place where human rights are not respected". However, he acknowledged "the existence of two or three isolated situations of which derision is being made". For this reason he constantly criticized the reports of international organizations as an intrusion into the country. At the door of the archbishopric, a blackboard said: 'No claims on Human Rights are accepted'".[25]

Regarding the Peruvian Coordinator of Human Rights, an umbrella organizations of secular and church groups devoted to protecting human rights in Peru, Cipriani said:

"In a violent context like that of Ayacucho, the deaths, disappearances and abuses are part of the war. Defenders of Human Rights will call it a dirty war. I believe that the Armed Forces had to use these mechanisms to know how and where these issues occurred. And when these means were used, of course there were dead from one side and the other.... I have come to the forefront of the poor and of those who have massacred this city. And during that bustle I have not seen those of the Coordinator of Human Rights, that ridiculousness".[26]

In March 1991, Ciprani said that "As long as we do not state clearly that human rights are not absolute untouchable values, but are permanently subject to the limits set by human duties, it is impossible to deal effectively with the evils we suffer, especially immorality In public functions and terrorism. Let's put it briefly: Most institutions called "human rights defense" are the backbones of political movements, almost always of the Marxist and Maoist type".[27] In 1995 he explained why he endorsed an amnesty for state military officials accused of war crimes: "It is a political decision, to achieve internal peace, because it is necessary to forgive to achieve reconciliation.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "From Basketball Player to Cardinal". Zenit. 27 February 2001. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 3.3.1" (PDF). p. 426. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Cipriani Thorne Card. Juan Luis". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b Fraser, Barbara J. (23 March 2001). "Peru's new cardinal known for standing with the powerful". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 3.3.1" (PDF). pp. 416–17.
  6. ^ Vergara, Alberto; Encinas, Daniel (2019). "From a Partisan Right to a Conservative Archipelago". In Soifer, Hillel; Vergara, Alberto (eds.). Politics after Violence: Legacies of the Shining Path Conflict in Peru. University of Texas Press. p. 241. ISBN 9781477317310.
  7. ^ "Peru 2003". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  8. ^ Reding, Andrew (2010). "Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas". In Corrales, Javier; Pecheny, Mario (eds.). The Politics of Sexuality in Latin America. University of Pittsburgh. p. 298. ISBN 9780822973713. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  9. ^ Schemo, Diana Jean (23 April 1997). "Peru Held Hostage: Four Months of Torment Ends Abruptly". New York Times. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  10. ^ Preston, Julia (24 April 1997). "At the Moment of Truth, Rebels' Resolve Failed". New York Times. Retrieved 26 January 2019. Frequent visits by Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani of Ayacucho, a member of the commission that mediated between the Government and the rebels, also served to inspire optimism in the grimmest times, the hostages noted.
  11. ^ "John Paul II Names 37 New Cardinals". Zenit. 21 January 2001. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 15.05.2001" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 15 May 2001. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Cardenal Cipriani: Sociedad se desfigura al inventar "matrimonio" homosexual" (in Spanish). ACI Prensa. 1 July 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  14. ^ "Cipriani y Bruce se enfrentan por polémica 'ley homosexual'" (in Spanish). Peru21. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  15. ^ "Cardinal bans Communion in hand". The Tablet. 26 April 2008. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  16. ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 19.07.2011" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  17. ^ Beltramo Álvarez, Andrés (25 January 2019). "Perù, esce di scena il cardinale Cipriani. Un prete nuovo arcivescovo di Lima". La Stampa (in Italian). Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  18. ^ "List of Cardinal Electors". Zenit. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  19. ^ Allen Jr., John L. "Papabili who just missed the cut". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  20. ^ "Juan Luis Cipriani: "La mujer se pone, como en un escaparate, provocando"". La República. 30 July 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2019. 'Las estadísticas nos dicen que hay abortos de niñas, pero no es porque hayan abusado de las niñas, sino porque, muchas veces, la mujer se pone, como en un escaparate, provocando', declaró el arzobispo de la capital.
  21. ^ "Resignations and Appointments, 25.01.2019" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  22. ^ Gallegos, Juana (24 June 2018). "Aguas divididas en la Iglesia Católica". La República (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  23. ^ Klaiber, Jeffrey (2004). "Peru's Truth Commission and the Churches". International Bulletin of Mission Research. 28 (4).
  24. ^ TRC Final Report 2005 (PDF), p. 399
  25. ^ Final Report, Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (PDF), p. 426
  26. ^ Caretas, 14 April 1994
  27. ^ "NA". El Comercio. 11 March 1991.
  28. ^ "NA". Expreso. 18 June 1995.

External links[edit]

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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Armand Toasy
 — TITULAR —
Titular Bishop of Turuzi
23 May 1988 – 13 May 1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Elías Prado Tello
 Auxiliary Bishop of Ayachucho
23 May 1988 – 13 May 1995 		Succeeded by
Gabino Miranda Melgarejo
Preceded by Archbishop of Ayacucho
13 May 1995 – 9 January 1999 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archbishop of Lima
9 January 1999 – 25 January 2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Cardinal-Priest of San Camillo de Lellis
21 February 2001 – 		Incumbent
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