Francesco Cavina and the Carpi precedent: his 2019 resignation after a "media pillory"

Francesco Cavina, appointed today by Leo XIV as Apostolic Visitor with a special character for the parish of Medjugorje (the news and our article), returns to a post after stepping down as bishop of Carpi in 2019. Il Foglio's Vatican correspondent Matteo Matzuzzi recalled today that Cavina was forced to resign, «vittima di chiacchiericcio e di una gogna (fu anche intercettato)» ("a victim of gossip and of a pillory (he was also wiretapped)", our translation), and had held no post since.

The 2019 resignation. On 26 June 2019 Pope Francis accepted Cavina's resignation from the governance of the diocese of Carpi and named Erio Castellucci, archbishop of Modena-Nonantola, as apostolic administrator. Cavina was 64, eleven years short of 75, the age at which canon law asks bishops to offer their resignation. In a letter to the diocese he wrote that the Pope had accepted it «dopo ripetute richieste» and «con dispiacere» ("after repeated requests" and "with regret", our translation).

The wiretaps and the dismissal. In the same letter Cavina said his time as bishop had been marked «da continui tentativi di delegittimazione, nonché, negli ultimi tempi, da intercettazioni telefoniche a seguito di denunce di presunti reati alla Procura della Repubblica» ("by continuous attempts at delegitimisation and, lately, by phone wiretaps following complaints of alleged offences to the public prosecutor", our translation). He wrote that the case against him had been fully dismissed, at the request of the prosecutors themselves and approved by the preliminary investigations judge because the accusations were unfounded, but that «la gogna mediatica a cui sono stato sottoposto non si è interrotta» ("the media pillory I was subjected to did not stop", our translation).

According to Vatican News, the case stemmed from an accusation of vote-buying linked to spending of about 15,000 euros by the municipality, never paid out, on the celebration for the return of the statue of the Assumption to the cathedral after the 2012 earthquake. Corriere della Sera linked it to an investigation by Modena prosecutors into Carpi's municipal administration. Il Foglio, in a piece by Matzuzzi on 26 June 2019, wrote that the wiretaps were «penalmente non rilevanti» ("of no criminal relevance", our translation) but had been published. Cavina's case was dismissed: he was never tried.

Who he is. Born in Faenza on 17 February 1955, a priest of the diocese of Imola since 1980 with a doctorate in canon law, he served from 1996 to 2011 as an official of the Secretariat of State, in the Section for Relations with States. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Carpi on 14 November 2011. A few months after he took office, the diocese was hit by the Emilia earthquake of May 2012; on 2 April 2017 Pope Francis visited Carpi and Mirandola.

After Carpi. On 7 December 2020 Pope Francis named Castellucci bishop of Carpi, uniting the dioceses of Modena-Nonantola and Carpi in persona Episcopi. On 10 November 2022 the town of Mirandola gave Cavina its civic merit award for his role in rebuilding after the earthquake.

What we don't know. The Holy See has not explained why it chose Cavina for Medjugorje. The sources we consulted show no previous role of his linked to the shrine.

Sources: Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 26 June 2019 · Bulletin, 31 October 2026 · Bulletin, 7 December 2020 · Bulletin, 14 November 2011 · Diocese of Carpi, Cavina's letter · Vatican News · Il Foglio · Town of Mirandola

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