Ennio Cardinal Antonelli

Ennio Cardinal Antonelli (born November 18, 1936) has been the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Florence since March 2001.

Born in Todi, he first attended seminary there, and after further studies in Assisi, Rome, and Perugia, he was ordained a priest for the diocese of Todi in 1960. He eventually became rector of the Seminary of Perugia and a professor of theology in Assisi before being ordained a bishop in 1982, when Pope John Paul II named him to head the diocese of Gubbio. In 1988 he was advanced to Archbishop of Perugia-Citta del Pieve, from which see he stepped down in 1995 to become Secretary-General of the Italian Episcopal Conference. He served in this position until he was named to the see of Florence, whose archbishop is traditionally named a Cardinal, and he was duly elevated in the consistory of 2003.

Antonelli was considered a papabile Italian candidate heading into the 2005 papal conclave in which Pope Benedict XVI was elected and at which Antonelli was a cardinal elector.