Pedro Antonio Marchetti Fedalto

Pedro Antonio Marchetti Fedalto was born on 11 August 1926 in Colonia Antonio Reboucas, Campo Largo, Parana, Brazil, the eldest of seven children of Giacomo Fedalto and Corona Marchetti. Both parents were of Italian descent and practising Catholics. He was baptised on 29 August 1926 by Father Natal Pigatto and confirmed on 9 October 1932 by Archbishop Joao Francisco Braga of Curitiba. He made his First Communion on 10 January 1937.

He began school in the colony under teacher Luiz Lorenzi, who encouraged him toward religious life. On 2 February 1940 he entered the Sao Jose Minor Seminary in Curitiba, remaining until 30 November 1946. He then studied philosophy (1947-1949) and theology (1950-1953) at the Central Seminary of the Immaculate Conception of Ipiranga in Sao Paulo. Among his companions through those years was Antonio Agostinho Marochi, later a bishop.

Fedalto was ordained a priest on 6 December 1953 by Archbishop Manoel da Silveira d'Elboux at Curitiba's Cathedral Basilica Minor of Our Lady of Light. He served as chaplain to the College of the Sisters of Divine Providence, then as professor and spiritual director at the Queen of the Apostles Major Seminary and as chancellor of the Archdiocese of Curitiba.

Pope Paul VI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Curitiba and Titular Bishop of Castellum Tatroportus on 30 May 1966. He was consecrated on 28 August 1966 by Nuncio Sebastiano Baggio. After the death of Archbishop d'Elboux he was diocesan apostolic administrator in 1970. Named Metropolitan Archbishop of Curitiba on 28 December 1970, he was installed on 28 February 1971 as the fourth archbishop of the see.

Over more than three decades he created 74 parishes, ordained 74 diocesan priests, decentralised pastoral areas, published pastoral guides, and led a synod from 1987 to 1994. He hosted Popular Holy Missions in 1975 and 2000 and welcomed Pope John Paul II to Curitiba in June 1980. He chaired the bishops' South Region II for many years and was Grand Chancellor of PUCPR from 1970 to 2004. He resigned for age on 19 May 2004 and was succeeded by Moacyr Jose Vitti. Among bishops he ordained or consecrated were Albano Bortoletto Cavallin, Antonio Agostinho Marochi, Moacyr Jose Vitti, Sergio Arthur Braschi, Sergio Krzywy and Wilmar Santin.

Fedalto's episcopal motto, Veritatem in caritate (Truth in charity), summarised the pastoral tone associates attributed to him: doctrinal clarity joined to approachable simplicity. Born into a farming family of Italian Catholic immigrants, he kept close ties to the rural colony of his childhood even as he led a major urban archdiocese. He never married, in keeping with Latin rite priestly celibacy, and directed his public life entirely toward seminary formation, parish growth and archdiocesan governance.

In retirement after 2004 he remained in Curitiba as archbishop emeritus. On 11 August 2026 he turned 100, an occasion noted in the Brazilian Church as he became one of the country's rare centenarian bishops. PUCPR, which he had served as Grand Chancellor, had already conferred an honorary doctorate on him in 2008.

Dom Pedro Antonio Marchetti Fedalto died on the afternoon of Saturday, 26 September 2026, in Curitiba, Brazil, at the age of 100. The Archdiocese of Curitiba confirmed the death; the cause was not disclosed. Weekend liturgies were dedicated to his memory. A funeral Mass with the body present was scheduled for Monday, 28 September 2026, at 10:00 at the Cathedral Basilica Minor of Our Lady of Light, followed by burial in the cathedral crypt.

Curitiba Mayor Eduardo Pimentel announced three days of official mourning in the city and praised Fedalto's more than seven decades of priesthood and 33 years at the head of the archdiocese. PUCPR Rector Brother Rogerio Renato Mateucci likewise declared three days of mourning for the university's former Grand Chancellor and honorary doctor. Bishops across Parana, including Dom Amilton Manoel da Silva of Guarapuava, issued messages of condolence.

Fedalto's long tenure reshaped the Archdiocese of Curitiba after the Second Vatican Council: new parishes, a stronger network of pastoral agents, a completed synod, and memorable public moments such as the 1980 papal visit and the large confirmation gatherings of the late 1990s. Generations of priests and bishops in Parana traced their ordination or consecration to his hands.

As Grand Chancellor of PUCPR he also linked the local Church to Catholic higher education in the state. Tributes after his death stressed faith, serenity and simplicity as much as institutional achievement. He is remembered as a pastor who held Curitiba's Catholic community through decades of social change and who lived long enough to see the fruits of that work into a second century of life.