On hearing the sad news of the death of His Excellence Monsignor Aldo Giordano, the Presidency and the Secretariat of the CCEE extend their sympathy to the family of Fr Aldo and his collaborators in Brussels and invoke the Lord of Life to welcome into Heaven his faithful servant, a man of dialogue and peace.
The European bishops and, in particular, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, of which Msgr Giordano was the General Secretary from 1995 to 2008, came to learn the dedication with which he served the Church and to benefit from his joy and commitment to evangelisation throughout the European continent.
In 2008, after his appointment as permanent observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe, he moved from St. Gallen to Strasbourg where he continued his assignment in the service of communion and cooperation with the European bishops. In 2013, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela and consecrated bishop by Card. Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State. On 8 May, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union.
Not being able to participate at the CCEE Plenary Assembly last September, he had sent a greeting to the bishops in which, in addition to expressing his joy and emotion at returning to serve Europe directly, and after recalling his predecessors who had already returned to the Father’s House, Fr Aldo questioned “what characteristics our continent now has and what its responsibilities are”, and pointed to the Church’s “heavy responsibility of acting as an area of fraternity that stands above cultural and political tensions”.
Attached is the full text of his speech. Unfortunately, one of his last.
(Archive photo)
