Enrico Gasparri

Who was Enrico Gasparri?

Enrico Gasparri S.T.D. JUD was a Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop. Pietro Gasparri, who in 1929 signed the Lateran Pacts, was his uncle.

Enrico was ordained on 10 August 1894 at the age of 23. He studied in Rome receiving degrees in theology and philosophy and worked in Rome in a pastoral role from 1894 until 1898. Pope Benedict XV appointed him Titular Archbishop of Sebastea on 9 December 1915, and sent as Apostolic Delegate to Colombia. On 20 July 1917 he was chosen as Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia with full dipolmatic rights. On 1 September 1920 Pope Benedict appointed him Nuncio to Brazil.

The appointed ended when on 14 December 1925 he was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of San Bartolomeo all'Isola at the age of 54. His creation was an exception made to the Code of Canon Law that forbade anyone having a relative in the Sacred College of Cardinals.

On the 18 May 1933 Pope Pius XI appointed him Prefect of Apostolic Signatura. On the 16 October 1933 he was elevated to Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri. He was one of the cardinal electors in the 1939 papal conclave, which selected Pope Pius XII.

He died on 20 May 1946 at the age of 74.