Deceased Academicians

Renato Dardozzi

Prof.

Renato Dardozzi

Date of birth 05 April 1922

Place Parma, Italy (Europe)

Nomination 01 July 1997 (Former Chancellor of the PAS, Honorary Academician)

Field Philosophy and Theology

Title Professor of Philosophy and Theology

Place and date of death Rome, Italy † 03 June 2003

  • Biography
  • Publications
  • Commemoration

Most important awards, prizes and academies
Commendatore della Repubblica italiana; «Österreichishe Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst I. Klasse», consegnato dall’Ambasciatore d’Austria presso la Santa Sede per incarico del «Der Bundesminister für Wissenschaft verker und Kunst» (Wien, 7 Novembre 1996).Academic qualifications: Maturità Classica (Liceo Classico Galvani di Bologna); Laurea in Matematica e Fisica (Università di Milano); Laurea in Ingegneria Elettrotecnica (Politecnico di Milano); Specializzazione in Telecomunicazioni (due anni), Istituto Galileo Ferraris di Torino; Laurea in Filosofia e Teologia (Università Gregoriana di Roma).

Summary of scientific research
Conseguita la laurea in ingegneria, gli veniva offerta una posizione di Dirigente presso la Società di Telecomunicazioni SIP (attuale TELECOM). Percorsi gli stadi della carriera, veniva nominato Direttore Generale della Società e trasferito quindi alla Holding delle Telecomunicazioni (STET). In STET, oltre allo svolgimento dei suoi specifici compiti, gli veniva assegnata la Direzione e la Do­cenza all’Istituto Universitario per le Telecomunicazioni «Reiss Romoli» collegato all’Università Statale dell’Aquila. A tale Istituto sono ammessi laureati in Ingegneria e destinati a posizioni di alta responsabilità nella Società stessa. Conseguita la laurea alla «Gregoriana», è stato ordinato Sacerdote nel dicembre 1973 e nello stesso anno si è congedato dalla STET con la quale ha continuato a mantenere rapporti di consulenza. Su invito della Segreteria di Stato iniziò, nel 1974 la sua collaborazione con la Santa Sede, la quale lo introdusse nell’affare «Ambrosiano», dove svolse compiti specifici di controlli economico-finanziari, nella Commissione internazionale Mista, creata dalla Segreteria di Stato per l’accertamento della Verità. Nel 1985 venne chiamato a svolgere il compito di «Direttore aggiunto» della Cancelleria della Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze. Nel 1986 fu nominato «Direttore della Cancelleria». Nel 1996 fu nominato «Cancellerie» della Pontificia Accade­mia delle Scienze e in occasione della fondazione della Pontificia Accademia della Scienze Sociali fu nominato anche Cancelliere della PASS. Negli anni della sua attività in Accademia (1985-1997), furono eletti numerosi Accademici e molti furono i Convegni Scientifici svolti. Fra di essi, ha suscitato interesse e consensi a livello internazionale «Population and Resources» i cui atti hanno avuto diffusione mondiale (Ediz. Oxford University Press). Altri importanti Convegni: «The Epoch of Galaxy Formation»; «The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology», Atti: «Princeton University Press»; «Chemical Hazards in Developing Countries, Atti: «Elsevir Science»; «The Legal and Ethical Aspects Related to the Project of the Human Genome», Atti: FBBV Deusto University Spagna; «The Origin and Early Evolution of Life. Reflexion on Science at the Dawn of the Third Millennium». Ebbe risonanza mondiale l’approfondimento dello studio della «Questione Galileiana» voluto dal Santo Padre. A seguito di ciò il Prefetto della Congregazione della Fede, Card. Ratzinger, accettò di approfondire la conoscenza del Carteggio di Galileo ancora inesplorato. Il 30 Giugno 1997 Mons. Ing. Renato Dardozzi è stato nominato Accademico della Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze. Il 3 giugno 2001 è stato nominato Consultore del Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace e del Pontificio Consiglio per gli Operatori Sanitari.

Main publications
Dardozzi R., Collaborazione a diverse opere di P.R. Arnou «L’homme a-t-il le pouvoir de connaitre la verité»; P. Bourassa (Gregoriana), La Trinité. Ricerche in epistemologia e ricerche scientifiche in Telecomunicazioni (TLC); Dardozzi R., Jerusalem in time and eternity, in collaborazione con tre esperti (cattolico, ebreo e islamico) sotto la guida di P. Darboy di Gerusalemme (Università).

Renato Dardozzi directed the activities of our Academy as Director of the Chancery from 1985, and as Chancellor in 1996. In 1997 he was appointed Honorary Member of the Academy. For the new members, who do not remember his untiring activity in the promotion of our Academy, I will recall some aspects of his life. He started his career as an engineer specialised in the field of telecommunications, which was then on the verge of the tumultuous growth we are now witnessing. He found employment with the Italian telephone company, and through his brilliant intelligence and personal integrity rose through the ranks, finally becoming the Director General of STET, the Italian Telecommunications Holding, now privatised as Telecom Italia. During his successful career he felt ever more attracted to a religious life, and enrolled in a Theology and Philosophy course at the Gregorian University in Rome. After graduating in 1973 he took Holy Orders. His managerial prowess had not however passed unnoticed in the Vatican, and the following year he was called to work for the Secretary of State. So his hope for a life devoted to thought and philosophy had to give way to a renewed manegerial activity at the highest level. Apart from leading the activities of the Academy, Dardozzi was many times called to very delicate tasks, from that of reviewing the management of the Vatican Bank, which had attracted widespread criticism, to that of restoring the scientific and medical excellence of the ‘Bambin Gesù’ hospital, which is now one of the most highly regarded pediatric hospitals in Italy. When our sister institution, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, was founded, Dardozzi was also nominated Chancellor of that Academy, and had an important role in the startup of that institution. To the tireless activity of Msgr. Dardozzi must go a good part of the merit for the high level of the many meetings which took place under his tenure, and attracted a great deal of attention at the international level. Among them ‘Population and Resources’, ‘The Epoch of Galaxy Formation’, ‘Chemical Hazards in Developing Countries’, ‘Legal and Ethical Problems of the Human Genome Project’, ‘The Origin and Early Evolution of Life’. Dardozzi initiated the publication of the proceedings of some of our meetings with prestigious publishers such as the Cambridge or Oxford University Presses, and this idea has been followed to the present day. I must also recall that Dardozzi had an important role in organizing the work for the review of the Galilei process, required by John Paul II, which was crowned by the solemn declaration of the Holy Father in 1992. Dardozzi was an Engineer, a title he always insisted on, even in his priestly life, and always maintained a profound interest for the philosophical implications of the new scientific discoveries. He was also a man of great charity, which was manifest in his gentle attention to the personal problems of our employees, but also in his private life, which was dedicated to the care of a girl, Federica, affected by serious handicaps, whom he had adopted as a daughter. I really hope we can convince one of his many friends to write the story of the very interesting life of this unique person who graced the Academy with his dedicated work.


Nicola Cabibbo