Monsignor Aldo Giordano, apostolic nuncio of the Holy See to the European Union in Brussels since last May, died of Covid this afternoon (2 December) in the university clinic of Leuven, Belgium., where he had been hospitalized in intensive care for a few weeks. From Cuneo, 67, he was infected in September during a trip to Slovakia with Pope Francis. He leaves his brother Angelo and his sister Bruna, former mayor of Tarantasca. The date of the funeral has yet to be defined, which in all likelihood will be celebrated in the Cathedral of Cuneo.
Originally from the hamlet of San Benigno, where he was born on August 20, 1954, Aldo Giordano was ordained a priest in 1979. A young man with an extraordinary talent for study, he obtained a Baccalaureate from the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy in Milan and a Licentiate in Philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University. For his doctoral research, he had devoted himself to Nietzsche’s thinking. During the period of his studies in Rome, he collaborated as vice-parish priest in the parish of SS. Sacramento on the Prenestina. From 1982 to 1996 he was professor of philosophy at the Interdiocesan Theological Study and the Higher School of Religious Sciences of Fossano and for some years he taught History of Philosophy in the classical high school of the Seminary, also holding courses in Ethics at the school of theology for the laity. Assistant pastor in the parish of San Pio X in Cuneo, he followed the diocesan pastoral care for the fields of politics, economics, medicine and culture. His research and publications were dedicated, in particular, to contemporary philosophy, ethics and the theme of Christianity and Europe.
On 15 May 1995 he was elected secretary general of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences and moved to the headquarters of the secretariat in St. Gallen, Switzerland, where he remained for 13 years in the service of communion and collaboration with the European bishops. Later, he was appointed chaplain to His Holiness in 2002 and prelate to His Holiness in 2006. Two years later, he became a permanent observer of the Holy See at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and in 2013 nuncio to Venezuela, the year in which he was consecrated bishop. In September 2013 he published the book “Another Europe is possible, Christian ideals and perspectives for the old Continent”, in which he collected the experiences and reflections of almost 20 years of service to the Church in Europe.