What is Achille Silvestrini?
[[File:Achille Silvestrini.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Silvestrini in November 2006]] '''Achille Silvestrini''' (25 October 1923 &ndash; 29 August 2019) was an Italian prelate of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. He served in the [[Vatican]] diplomatic corps, either in [[Rome]] or abroad, from 1953 to 1990. He was Prefect of the [[Congregation for the Oriental Churches]] from 1991 to 2000. He was born in [[Brisighella]], Italy. Silvestrini was ordained a priest on 13 July 1946 in the cathedral of Faenza by Giuseppe Battaglia, Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Faenza|Faenza]]. He earned a doctorate at the [[University of Bologna]] in 1948 and a doctorate in canon and civil law at the [[Pontifical Lateran University]].<ref name=vaticanbio>{{cite web| access-date= 17 August 2017| url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_silvestrini_a.html |title= Biography: Silvestrini Card. Achille| publisher= Press Office of the Holy See}}</ref> As of 2016, Silvestrini was chair of the [[Collegio universitario Fondazione Comunità Domenico Tardini]], which was founded in 1946 to support war orphans.<ref>{{cite news|title= Pope's Q-and-A at Villa Nazareth|url=https://zenit.org/articles/popes-q-and-a-at-villa-nazareth/|access-date=17 August 2017|work=Zenit| date=23 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Pope says ‘martyrdom, not ‘genocide,’ is the best word | access-date = 18 August 2017 | url = https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2016/06/19/pope-says-martyrdom-not-genocide-best-word/ | date = 19 June 2016 | work = CRUX | first = Inés | last = San Martín | archive-date = 18 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170818090551/https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2016/06/19/pope-says-martyrdom-not-genocide-best-word/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> In the 1990s, Silvestrini was mentioned as a successor to [[Pope John Paul II]] in the secular press,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reese|first1=Thomas J.|title=Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic C