BALUFFI, GAETANO

First internuncio to South America; b. Ancona, Italy, 1788; d. Imola, Italy, Nov. 11, 1866. In 1835 Gregory XVI recognized the independence of New Granada and sent Baluffi, then bishop of Bagnorea, as his first internuncio there. In 1837 Baluffi began his mission to the government of General Santander, and then extended it to several South American countries, whose relations with the Holy See had previously been conducted through Madrid. His lack of knowledge of the environment led him into unfortunate attitudes, influenced by the sectarian Catholic Society. This society was hostile to Archbishop Manuel José Mosquera of Bogotá, whose policy was approved by Rome. Baluffi drafted a good proposal for a concordat, which was not approved. In 1841 he was named bishop of Camerino and apostolic administrator of Treja, and Pius IX named him bishop of Imola and a cardinal. He was the author of La iglesia romana, conocida por su caridad al prójimo como verdadera iglesia de Jesucristo, and La América un tiempo española, considerada por su aspecto religioso, desde su descubrimiento hasta 1843. The latter work was intended to make known to Europeans the political and religious situation of the republics that had won independence from Spain, but the work discussed only the causes of the revolution of 1810, and included nothing based on the author's personal experience. A book of history and apologetics, it is a bibliographical curiosity.

Bibliography: a. m. pinilla cote, La internunciature de Mons. Cayetano Baluffi en Bogotá, primera en Hispanoamérica, 1837–42 (Rome 1953). j. restrepo posada, "La obra de Mons. B.," Conferencias de la Academia Colombiana de Historia (Bogotá 1947).

[r. gÓmez hoyos]