Giuseppe Siri (20 May 1906 – 2 May 1989) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. He was a protege of Pope Pius XII. He was considered a likely candidate to succeed Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul I.

Early life and ministry
Siri was born in Genoa to Nicolò and Giulia (née Bellavista) Siri. He entered the minor seminary of Genoa on 16 October 1916, and attended the major seminary from 1917 to 1926. Siri then studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Carlo Minoretti on 22 September 1928. Finishing his studies at the Gregorian, he earned his doctorate in theology summa cum laude and also did pastoral work in Rome until autumn 1929.

Upon returning to Genoa, he served as a chaplain until he became a professor of dogmatic theology at the major seminary in 1930, also teaching fundamental theology for a year. In addition to his academic duties, Siri was a preacher, public speaker, and professor of religion at the classical lyceums named to Andrea Doria and Giuseppe Mazzini from 1931 to 1936. He was named prosynodal examiner in the archdiocesan curia in 1936 and rector of Collegio Teologico S. Tommaso d'Aquino in 1937.

Episcopal career

On 14 March 1944, Siri was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Genoa and Titular Bishop of Livias by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 7 May from Cardinal Pietro Boetto at the St. Lawrence Cathedral. He became vicar general for the archdiocese on 8 September 1944. During his tenure as an auxiliary, he was a member of the Italian resistance movement in World War II. He negotiated with the Nazi forces surrounding Genoa and met secretly with partisan leaders, eventually arranging a Nazi surrender that avoided further bombardment of the city.

Following the death of Cardinal Boetto, Siri was named Archbishop of Genoa on 14 May 1946, and installed on 29 May of that year. Pius XII created him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, in the consistory of 12 January 1953. At the time of his elevation, he was the youngest member of the College of Cardinals. He became known as the "minestrone cardinal" for his relief work in soup kitchens.

Siri was noted for his staunchly conservative views. At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), he sat on its Board of Presidency and, alongside Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Thomas Cooray, he was part of the association of traditionalist Council fathers named Coetus Internationalis Patrum. However, Siri once said, "I would describe myself as an independent, a man who walks alone and is not a member of any group." He was opposed to collegiality and innovation.

Pope John XXIII named Siri the first president of the Italian Episcopal Conference on 12 October 1959. He remained in that post until 1965. Siri, who had voted in the conclaves of 1958 and 1963, was also one of the cardinal electors in the August and October 1978 conclaves. He was a strong candidate for the papacy, or papabile, in all four conclaves, in which his support lay mostly with Curialists and other conservative cardinals. Media reports suggested that Siri in fact topped the first count of votes in the August 1978 conclave before losing to Albino Luciani, who became Pope John Paul I. Following John Paul I's death, Siri was the leading conservative candidate in opposition to Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, the Archbishop of Florence and leading liberal candidate. Vaticanologists suggested that the eventual winner, Cardinal Wojtyła, who became Pope John Paul II, was chosen as a compromise candidate between the two. Shortly afterwards, Siri implied that he disapproved of Wojtyła's election.

In a biography of Siri,  reports that Siri was a friend of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, but disapproved of his reported schismatic activities. But even until the last minute, Siri begged him ("on his knees") not to break with Rome. In the end, Siri resigned himself to the inevitability of his friend's excommunication.
Buonasorte commented: "In all probability, it is due to Siri that Lefebvre had no significant following in Italy".

The same book indicates that Siri seemed to have turned a blind eye to the assistance given by one or two of his clergy to members of the German National Socialist Party, including Adolf Eichmann, fleeing to South America after the Second World War. The author stresses, however, that this was out of compassion for people in difficulties, and completely unconnected with his well-known conservative views. Siri during the war had supported Christian-Democrat Italian resistance financially and morally. He also aided and sheltered some of his priests who tried to help rescue threatened Jews to safety in Franco's neutral Spain. 

Siri reached age 80 in 1986 and thus lost the right to participate in future conclaves; he was the last remaining cardinal elector who had been elevated by Pope Pius XII. Siri resigned from his post in Genoa on 6 July 1987, after 41 years of service. He died in Villa Campostano, Genoa, at age 82, and was buried at San Lorenzo metropolitan cathedral in Genoa.

Conclave speculation

Siri was considered a strong candidate in the 1958 papal conclave held to elect a successor to replace Pius XII. On the evening of 26 October, the first day of the conclave, apparent white smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, a traditional signal to the crowds in the square outside that a pope has been elected. No announcement was made, however, and after about half an hour, the smoke turned black, indicating that there was no result. Vatican Radio corrected its report.

Sometime in the late 1980s, an American traditionalist Catholic named Gary Giuffre began to expound the belief that Siri was the true pope, and that he was held captive in a monastery in Rome. According to Giuffre and his followers, the white smoke that was seen on 26 October 1958 did indeed mean that a pope had been elected, and that pope was Siri, but Siri was forced to reject the papacy because of threats from outside the conclave. Roncalli, who they claimed was a Freemason, was elected instead as Pope John XXIII. It was also claimed that this occurred during the 1963 conclave that elected Giovanni Battista Montini  as Pope Paul VI.

Siri himself never made these claims, and accepted the authority of all popes in his lifetime. He was appointed president of the Italian Episcopal Conference by Pope John in 1959, and remained in the post under Pope Paul until 1964. He was a candidate for pope in the 1978 conclave that followed the death of Paul VI, where he is thought to have led in the early ballot, but the conclave eventually elected Albino Luciani as Pope John Paul I, and again two months later in the October 1978 conclave, where he is also thought to have come within a few votes of election before the eventual election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope John Paul II. Siri never made any reference to the "Siri thesis", nor was there any mention of it in his New York Times obituary, in the biography written by Raimondo Spiazzi, or in a speech given by Giulio Andreotti on the centenary of Siri's birth in 2006.

See also
Cardinal electors in Papal conclave, 1958
Cardinal electors in Papal conclave, 1963
Cardinal electors in Papal conclaves, August and October 1978

References

Sources

External links

 Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
 Main website propounding the Siri Theory
 Book, "Mio Padre" (My Father) By Giuseppe Siri, 1975 in English. 
 Discussions about the Siri Theory
 

1906 births
1989 deaths
Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII
20th-century Italian cardinals
Roman Catholic archbishops of Genoa
20th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops
Italian resistance movement members
Participants in the Second Vatican Council
Coetus Internationalis Patrum
Pontifical Gregorian University alumni
Italian anti-communists
Anti-Masonry
Livias
주세페 시리(, 1906년 5월 20일 - 1989년 5월 2일)는 이탈리아의 로마 가톨릭교회의 추기경이다. 1946년부터 1987년까지 제노바 교구장 주교를 지냈으며, 1953년 교황 비오 12세에 의해 추기경이 되었다.

젊은 시절과 사제 
주세페 시리는 이탈리아 제노바 태생으로 니콜로 시리와 줄리아 벨라비스타의 아들로 태어났다. 부친의 직업은 항만 노동자였다. 주세페 시리는 1906년 10월 16일 제노바 소신학교에 들어갔으며, 1917년부터 1926년까지 대신학교를 다녔다. 주세페 시리는 로마의 교황청 그레고리오 대학교에서 공부하다가, 1928년 9월 22일 사제품을 받았다. 그리고 1929년까지 그레고리오 대학교에서 신학 박사학위를 받고 로마에서 사목 활동을 하였다.

제노바로 돌아온 그는 1930년 대신학교에서 교리신학 교수가 되기 전까지 본당 신부로 봉사하였으며, 1년 동안 신학생들에게 기초 신학을 가르쳤다.

주교 
1944년 3월 14일 시리는 교황 비오 12세에 의해 제노바 대교구의 보좌주교와 리비아스의 명의주교로 임명되었다. 그의 주교 성성과 착좌식은 그해 5월 7일 제노바 대성당에서 거행되었다. 1944년 9월 8일에는 제노바 대교구의 총대리가 되었다. 보좌주교로 지내는 동안 시리는 제2차 세계대전 기간 중 이탈리아 레지스탕스 운동을 적극 지원하였다. 그는 제노바를 포위한 나치 독일군과 교섭하는 한편 뒤로는 비밀리에 파르티잔 지도자들과 만났다. 결국 나치에 항복하는 대신에 더 이상 제노바를 공격하지 않는다는 약조를 받아냈다.

1946년 5월 14일 제노바 대교구장 보에토 추기경이 선종하자 같은 해 5월 29일 대교구장직을 계승하였다.

추기경 

비오 12세는 1953년 1월 12일 시리 대주교를 산타 마리아 델라 비토리아 성당의 사제급 추기경에 임명하였다. 추기경에 서임된 당시 시리는 당시 추기경단 가운데 가장 젊은 추기경이었다. 급식소에게 사람들에게 이탈리아 수프의 하나인 미네스트로네를 나누어주는 구호활동을 한 덕분에 그에게는 ‘미네스트로네 추기경’이라는 별명이 붙었다.

시리는 강경한 보수적인 견해를 가진 것으로 유명했다. 제2차 바티칸 공의회(1962-1965)에서 그는 ‘국제 교부회(Coetus Internationalis Patrum)’라는 전통적 입장을 고수한 공의회 교부들 중의 한 사람으로서 마르셀 르페브르 대주교와 알프레도 오타비아니 추기경, 토머스 코레이 추기경 등과 같은 견해를 공유하였다. 그러나 시리는 스스로 “나는 하나의 독립된 인격을 가진 존재이며, 혼자만의 길을 걷는 사람이다. 따라서 나는 어느 특정 모임에 속한 사람이 아니다.”라고 지칭한 바 있다. 시리는 또한 주교 단체성과 혁신에 대해서도 반대하는 입장을 내세웠다.

교황 요한 23세는 1959년 10월 12일 시리를 이탈리아 주교회의의 초대 의장으로 임명하였다. 시리 추기경은 1965년까지 이탈리아 주교회의 의장을 지냈다. 시리 추기경은 또한 1958년과 1963년, 1978년에 열린 콘클라베에 선거인단으로 참여하였다. 시리는 살아생전에 콘클라베에 네 번이나 참석하였으며, 강력한 교황 후보자였다. 특히 보수적인 성향이 있는 추기경들이 그를 지지하였다. 언론에서 보도한 바에 따르면, 1978년 8월 열린 콘클라베의 첫 투표에서 실제로 시리가 가장 많은 득표를 했지만, 결국에는 알비노 루치아니에게 패하고 말았다. 교황으로 선출된 루치아니 추기경은 교황 요한 바오로 1세로 즉위하였다. 요한 바오로 1세가 즉위한 지 얼마 못 가 선종한 후, 자유주의 세력이 피렌체 대교구장인 조반니 베넬리 추기경을 새 교황 후보로 내세우자 보수주의 세력 사이에서는 이에 맞서 시리 추기경을 새 교황 후보자로 밀었다. 두 추기경이 각축전을 벌이다가 결국 절충안으로서 카롤 보이티와 추기경이 새 교황으로 선출되었는데, 그가 바로 교황 요한 바오로 2세이다. 그 직후, 시리는 카롤 보이티와가 새 교황으로 선출된 결과에 대해 인정할 수 없다는 식의 말을 하였다.

시리 추기경은 마르셀 르페브르 대주교와 친분을 유지하고 있었지만, 교회를 분열시키는 그의 책동에 대해서는 동조하지 않았다. 그는 마지막 순간까지 르페브르 대주교가 로마로부터 축출되지 않도록 간곡히 요청하였다. 니클라 부오나소르테가 펴낸 시리 추기경의 일대기에 따르면, 심지어 시리 추기경은 그에게 무릎을 꿇고 애걸하기까지 했다고 한다. 그러나 시리 추기경의 이러한 요청에도 르페브르 대주교는 끝내 마음을 돌리지 않았으며, 결국 그의 파문은 피할 수 없게 되었다. 부오나소르테는 “르페브르가 이탈리아에서 동조자를 거의 얻지 못한 것은 다름 아닌 시리 때문이었다.”고 말하였다.

시리는 41년 간 제노바 대교구장으로 봉직한 후 1987년 7월 6일 퇴임하였다. 그리고 82세를 일기로 제노바에서 선종하였으며, 제노바 대성당 묘지에 안장되었다.

각주 

1906년 출생
1989년 사망
이탈리아의 추기경
제2차 바티칸 공의회 참가자
레시스텐자 관련자
그레고리오 대학교 동문
20세기 로마 가톨릭 대주교
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