Eleuterio Fortino

Eleuterio Francesco Fortino , also Archimandrite Eleuterio , (born April 21, 1938 in Lattarico , Province of Cosenza , Calabria , † September 22, 2010 in Rome ) was an Italian-Albanian theologian and ecumenist. He was considered one of the Holy See's important Eastern Church experts and a pioneer of ecumenism .

Life

Fortino came from an Arbëresh family from the southern Italian Italo-Albanian community of San Benedetto Ullano. From 1958 to 1965 he studied philosophy and theology in the monastery of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata , at the Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius in Rome and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Eleuterio Fortino received on 24 November 1963 at the Collegio Greco the priesthood for the diocese Lungro of the Italo-Albanian Church . In 1965 he became pastor of the Italo-Albanian Catholics in Rome at the Church of St. Anastasius of the Greeks, later also Archimandrite of the Italo-Albanian Eparchy of Calabria .

Fortino was a participant in the last session of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and was subsequently appointed to the newly founded Secretariat for Christian Unity by the Curia Bishop Johannes Willebrands . The main task was to look after the Orthodox Churches , in particular the Greek Catholic Church and the Romanian Greek Catholic Church . In 1987 he was appointed Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Head of the Department for Contacts with the Orthodox. He was also secretary of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church .

The Italian student union described Fortino as "the soul and engine of the secretariat for promoting Christian unity in the Vatican".

Fortino has published numerous writings. The Osservatore Romano published over 250 of his articles in 45 years.

He died after a long illness in the clinic of the University of Tor Vergata . Fortino was buried in his home parish of San Benedetto Ullano.

Liturgia greca , Chiesa di S. Atanasio 1970

S. Atanasio: la liturgia greca a Roma , Chiesa di S. Atanasio 1970

La chiesa bizantina albanese in Calabria. Tensioni e comunione (Volume 2 of Quad.Associazione italo-greco-albanese), Bios 1994, ISBN 978-88-7740-171-7

Il dialogo ecumenico. Verso il terzo millennio (Volume 9 by Terzo millennio cristiano), Grafitalica 2000, ISBN 978-88-87773-21-7

Missione e Missionarieta in Giovanni Paolo II , Ed. Urbaniana University Press, Città del Vaticano 2004, ISBN 88-401-4009-3

personal data
SURNAME	Fortino, Eleuterio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Fortino, Eleuterio Francesco; Fortino, Eleuterio F.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian theologian and ecumenist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 21, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lattarico , Cosenza Province , Calabria
DATE OF DEATH	September 22, 2010
Place of death	Rome