Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Vigone, Pietro Boetto joined the Society of Jesus in 1888 and after undergoing studies in Chieri and Como, was ordained priest in July 1901. Joining the teaching staff of the "Istituto Arecco" of Genoa of which he soon became rector, successively he was appointed rector of the "Collegio San Tommaso" of Cuneo and procurator of the Jesuit residence in Turin. Elected procurator general of the Society of Jesus in 1921, he was appointed provincial of the Roman Province in 1928 and named assistant of the Society for Italy in 1930. Pope Pius XI created him cardinal with the title of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria in the consistory of December 16, 1935, and later named him archbishop of the metropolitan see Genoa in 1938. Along his brief episcopate, marked by the Second World War, Boetto distinguished himself in defending the city and its inhabitants for which he was decorated with the local citizenship at the end of the conflicts. A month later, he was stricken by a heart attack at the archiepiscopal palace in the early hours of the morning and expired suddenly. Buried in the cathedral crypt alongside his predecessor, Cardinal Carlo Dalmazio Minoretti, a beautiful marble monument in his memory was later erected in the southern wall of the same cathedral beneath a fresco featuring the Last Supper.
Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Vigone, Pietro Boetto joined the Society of Jesus in 1888 and after undergoing studies in Chieri and Como, was ordained priest in July 1901. Joining the teaching staff of the "Istituto Arecco" of Genoa of which he soon became rector, successively he was appointed rector of the "Collegio San Tommaso" of Cuneo and procurator of the Jesuit residence in Turin. Elected procurator general of the Society of Jesus in 1921, he was appointed provincial of the Roman Province in 1928 and named assistant of the Society for Italy in 1930. Pope Pius XI created him cardinal with the title of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria in the consistory of December 16, 1935, and later named him archbishop of the metropolitan see Genoa in 1938. Along his brief episcopate, marked by the Second World War, Boetto distinguished himself in defending the city and its inhabitants for which he was decorated with the local citizenship at the end of the conflicts. A month later, he was stricken by a heart attack at the archiepiscopal palace in the early hours of the morning and expired suddenly. Buried in the cathedral crypt alongside his predecessor, Cardinal Carlo Dalmazio Minoretti, a beautiful marble monument in his memory was later erected in the southern wall of the same cathedral beneath a fresco featuring the Last Supper.
Bio by: Eman Bonnici
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