BOETTO, PIETRO. - Jesuit, cardinal, archbishop of Genova, b. at Vigone in Piemonte on 19 May 1871, d. at Genova on 31 Jan. 1946, rightly proclaimed «defensor civitatis».
Having entered the Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen, he subsequently served as rector of the colleges of Genova and Cuneo, provincial of the Turin province, visitor of the provinces of Aragon and Castile, procurator general, provincial of the Roman province, and assistant for Italy of his Order. Raised to the cardinalate in the Consistory of Dec. 1935 by Pio XI, he carried out his activity in the Curia as a member of many Congregations. In 1938 he was elected archbishop of Genova, which he governed from 1938 to 1946, during one of the gravest periods of its history.
During the harsh events of the German occupation, he succeeded in averting reprisals, freeing victims, and relieving the city’s hardships; finally, through direct negotiations, he was able to prevent the destruction of the port and of the installations already mined, as well as the shelling of the city, and to induce the commander of the German occupying forces, General Meinhold, to surrender (25 Apr. 1945). Among the works he accomplished, mention should be made of the artistic restoration of the sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Guardia on Mount Figona. In recognition of his merits, the municipality solemnly conferred honorary citizenship upon him; and a funerary monument was erected to him in the Cathedral.