Message from Archbishop Bruno Forte in Memory of Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, S.J.

 

This past Monday the Most Reverend Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, released a message, in Italian and German, in memory of Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, S.J.  Here is an English translation of the press release of Archbishop Forte's message. 

                                                                        

On November 26, Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, a Jesuit, former professor of Christian Art History at the Pontifical Gregorian University, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and since 1999 an honorary citizen of Manoppello, died in Berlin at the age of 82.

Among the most authoritative experts of depictions of the Face of Jesus, he studied the Holy Shroud of Turin and the Holy Face of Manoppello, initiating important research on this precious relic, which led to the recognition of it as the "Roman Veronica", favoring the pilgrimage of Pope Benedict XVI to the Shrine of the Holy Face on September 1, 2006. Archbishop Bruno Forte recalled this in a statement released in Italian and German:

Father Heinrich Pfeiffer S.J. was a witness to Christ through the research, knowledge and teaching of Church history. He made a great contribution to the study of the Holy Face of Manoppello. To him goes my thanks and the gratitude of the Church of Chieti-Vasto. Let us pray for Him and entrust ourselves to His prayer in heaven for us

 

+ Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto