Franco Anelli: farewell to the Rector of the Catholic University, Piacenza in mourning

Franco Anelli: farewell to the Rector of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. According to what we learn, the professor from Piacenza took his own life yesterday evening around 10pm. According to an initial reconstruction by the police and health workers who intervened on the scene, but investigations are still ongoing, Anelli fell from the sixth floor of the building where he lived in the center of Milan. The professor would have left the position of Rector in a few weeks. A renowned lawyer and jurist, Anelli was elected to lead the Catholic University in 2012 and held the position for three terms.

The news of the tragic death of Professor Anelli arrived in Piacenza late yesterday evening. And he shocked not only the academic world. «With deep dismay, the community of the Catholic University and the Agostino Gemelli Irccs University Polyclinic Foundation, to which he dedicated his work and his entire life, gathers together in mourning and prayer, expressing its deepest condolences to his mother and his loved ones”, reads a statement from the University.

Born in Piacenza in 1963, Franco Anelli had graduated in law from the Cattolica of Milan. After his PhD in commercial law, he became an associate professor in 1993 and subsequently an extraordinary professor at the University of Parma in 1996. As a lawyer, he became a member of the Supreme Court of Cassation in 1998. In Piacenza Anelli taught civil law at the Cattolica. After his appointment as Rector, he began teaching a private law course in Milan. Two years ago Pope francesco had appointed Anelli as consultant to the Congregation for Catholic Education: the Rector was one of five Italians among the 19 newly appointed.