Former Vatican court president Giuseppe Dalla Torre dies at 77

Rome Newsroom, Dec 3, 2020 / 12:00 pm

Giuseppe Dalla Torre, a jurist who retired last year after more than 20 years as president of the Vatican City tribunal, died Thursday at the age of 77.

Dalla Torre was also the longtime rector of Libera Maria Santissima Assunta University (LUMSA) in Rome. He was married and had two daughters, one of whom is deceased.

His funeral will be held on Dec. 5 at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica.

Dalla Torre was the brother of Fra Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, who was the Sovereign Grand Master of the Order of Malta from 2018 until his death on April 29, 2020.

The two brothers were descended from a noble family with long ties to the Holy See. Their grandfather was the director of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano for 40 years, lived in Vatican City, and had Vatican citizenship.

This summer, Giuseppe Dalla Torre published "Papi di Famiglia," a book about three generations of his family and their service to the Holy See, which spans more than 100 years and eight popes. 

Born in 1943, Dalla Torre studied jurisprudence and canon law before serving as a professor of Church law and constitutional law from 1980 to 1990.

He was rector of the Catholic university LUMSA from 1991 to 2014, and from 1997 to 2019 was president of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, where he led the two so-called "Vatileaks" trials and oversaw the reform of the city state's penal law.

Dalla Torre was also a consultor of various Vatican dicasteries and a visiting professor at several of Rome's pontifical universities.

His career included being a columnist for L'Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference, a member of the National Bioethics Committee, and president of the Italian Catholic Jurists Union.

Dalla Torre was a lieutenant general of honor of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

LUMSA Rector Francesco Bonini said in a statement on Dalla Torre's death that "he was a teacher for all of us and a father for many. We remember him with gratitude and we are committed to developing his witness of truth and goodness, a witness of service."

"We share the pain of Mrs. Nicoletta and Paola, and together we pray to the Lord, at the beginning of this time of Advent, who prepares us, in Christian hope, for the certainty of a life that has no end, in His infinite love," Bonini concluded.