2023-07-12 00:08:00
July 11, 2023 / 5:08 p.m.
Mons. Ángel Sixto Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba (Argentina), whom Pope Francis will create Cardinal in the consistory on September 30, received episcopal consecration in December 2021.
Bishop Rossi was 63 years old and was Provincial Councilor of the Society of Jesus in Argentina and Uruguay, when on November 6, 2021 he was appointed Archbishop of Córdoba, the third ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the country in number of faithful, surpassed only by the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and the Diocese of Lomas de Zamora.
Born in Córdoba on August 11, 1958, Ángel Sixto Rossi began his formation in the novitiate of the then Argentine Province of the Society of Jesus in 1976, a time when Jorge Bergoglio was acting as superior.
Ten years later, after completing his studies —part of them carried out in Ecuador—, he received priestly ordination on December 12, 1986.
Between 1990 and 1992 he held the position of rector at the Church of El Salvador, in the city of Buenos Aires, a period in which he opened the Hogar San José for homeless people.
But his main work would be the Open Hands Foundation, created in 1992, which to this day offers help to the poor in ten cities in Argentina.
He served three years as novice master in the Society of Jesus, between 1992 and 1995; and six as superior of the community of the Residence in Córdoba, between 2013 and 2019.
He has written numerous spiritual and pastoral books and essays. For 30 years he offered Ignatian spiritual exercises for seminarians, religious and lay people.
Until his appointment as archbishop, he served as Provincial Counselor of the Argentine-Uruguayan Province of the Jesuits, coordinator of the itinerant missionary team and spiritual adviser of the Manos Abiertas Foundation.
During his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bishop Jorge Bergoglio wrote the prologue of his book Small gestures with great love, and he referred to him in this way: “Ángel Rossi is a priest who summons with his word. When it is known that he is speaking, people come closer; The young people are coming, the families are coming, the sinners who are lining up in his confessional are coming, the listeners of the radio are coming, they are all coming.”
His convening word also led him, as a priest, to preach retreats for bishops, and to be the voice of the reflections of the popular Brocheriana Week, which is celebrated every year in Villa Cura Brochero, Córdoba, to honor the saint from Traslasierra.
Just one year and a few months after his appointment as archbishop, this Sunday, July 9, as he walked down the aisle in the cathedral of Córdoba, he learned from a local parishioner that Pope Francis had announced that he would create him a cardinal in the consistory of September 30.
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“It was a bombshell” declared Chain 3 the Prelate, and admitted that at first he thought it was a mistake. After the consistory, he anticipated, he will continue his ministry in Córdoba.
He also referred to the other two Argentines with whom he shares the list of future Cardinals, Bishop Víctor Manuel Fernández and Fray Luis Pascual Dri.
“We are the three Argentines and I feel very accompanied by these two greats. It shows the love and closeness of Pope Francis,” he said.
Julieta Villar has a degree in Social Communication from the National University of La Matanza (Argentina). She is a correspondent for ACI Prensa for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay.
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