Virginio Bressanelli

Virginio Domingo Bressanelli was born on 1 May 1942 in Berabevú, a small farming town in the Caseros department in the south of Santa Fe province, Argentina. He entered the minor seminary of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the Dehonians) at Maciel, Santa Fe, as a young man and went on to make his novitiate in Savona, Italy. He made his perpetual profession in the congregation on 29 September 1964. Details of his parents and childhood have not been made public.

After the minor seminary at Maciel and his novitiate in Savona, he studied philosophy at a Dehonian house in Monza, Italy, and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology in 1967. He was ordained a priest in Rome on 17 December 1966, while still completing those studies. Later, in Buenos Aires, he studied psychopedagogy and obtained the title of professor.

Back in Argentina he served as assistant parish priest in Buenos Aires, at Santo Cristo parish in Villa Riachuelo, and in the diocese of San Justo from 1970 to 1975. From 1975 to 1983 he was a formator and superior of the Dehonian theologate, and from 1983 to 1989 he was provincial superior for Argentina and Uruguay. From 1989 to 1991 he worked in the ongoing formation of members of the order.

On 24 May 1991 the general chapter elected him superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and he was re-elected on 31 May 1997. He spent twelve years in Rome leading the international congregation and also worked within the Union of Superiors General. He was succeeded by José Ornelas Carvalho on 27 May 2003 and returned to Argentina as superior of the Dehonian theologate in San Miguel, Buenos Aires province.

Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Comodoro Rivadavia on 19 February 2005. He was ordained bishop on 13 May 2005 in Comodoro Rivadavia by his predecessor Pedro Luis Ronchino, with Bishop Marcelino Palentini of Jujuy and Bishop emeritus Miguel Hesayne of Viedma as co-consecrators, and took possession of the diocese the same day as its fifth bishop. His episcopal motto was "Aquí estoy, oh Dios, para hacer tu voluntad" (Here I am, O God, to do your will).

On 10 February 2010 Pope Benedict XVI named him coadjutor bishop of Neuquén. When Bishop Marcelo Melani resigned on 8 November 2011, Bressanelli succeeded him as the fourth bishop of Neuquén. In the Argentine Episcopal Conference he was first vice president for the 2011 to 2014 term and chaired the Commission for Consecrated Life. Pope Francis accepted his resignation for age on 3 August 2017, and Fernando Martín Croxatto became bishop of Neuquén.

As a vowed religious priest he did not marry and had no children. A death notice published by his congregation in La Capital of Rosario named his Dehonian community and his siblings and other relatives as mourners, without listing their names. In retirement he lived in Resistencia, Chaco, with his congregation.

Bressanelli described his ministry in Neuquén as a continuation of the path of Jaime de Nevares, the diocese's first bishop, known for his defence of the poor, Mapuche communities, workers and human rights. In a homily on the 22nd anniversary of De Nevares's death in May 2017 he greeted members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and praised their defence of human rights. He took part in mediating social conflicts, including an April 2015 dispute over jobs at the Andacollo gold mine that was settled at the bishop's offices with workers and provincial ministers.

On bioethics he held firmly to Catholic teaching against euthanasia. He opposed withdrawing nutrition and hydration from Marcelo Diez and called the outcome of the case a door opened to "covert euthanasia," while stressing that the Church did not judge the people involved.

Marcelo Diez was a Neuquén man who spent about two decades in a severely disabled state after a motorcycle accident. His sisters asked for life-sustaining nutrition and hydration to be withdrawn under Argentina's 2012 dignified death law (Law 26,742). In August 2012 Bressanelli published a public letter titled "Derecho a una asistencia básica" (Right to basic assistance), arguing that Diez was in a minimally conscious state and that withdrawing care would amount to "euthanasia by omission."

On 7 July 2015 the Supreme Court of Argentina upheld the family's right to withdraw support, and Diez died of natural causes a few hours later. The next day the bishop issued a statement expressing sorrow at the ruling and peace that Diez had died naturally, adding: "We defend life, we do not fight against people." Speaking to the press he said removing basic sustenance was ultimately to induce death. Página/12 criticised his letters, reporting that they had encouraged pro-life activists who gathered outside the clinic and criticised the family, and noting that medical experts had concluded Diez had no capacity for awareness. Government officials also disputed the Church's reading of the ruling.

Bressanelli is remembered as one of the few Argentines to lead an international religious congregation as superior general, and as a Patagonian bishop who served two dioceses over twelve years. On his death the Argentine Episcopal Conference, in a letter signed by its president Marcelo Colombo and secretary general Raúl Pizarro, recalled "his wisdom, his deep pastoral discernment and his capacity to accompany his brother bishops with closeness, delicacy and fraternal spirit, particularly those going through difficult moments." His successor Fernando Croxatto highlighted his humility, his life of prayer and his quiet service to the Church and the poor. Civic leaders in Chubut and Neuquén also paid tribute.

No civil awards or honorary degrees have been reported in the sources reviewed. His principal recognitions were ecclesial: election and re-election as superior general of the Dehonians (1991 and 1997), appointment as a diocesan bishop by two popes, and election as first vice president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (2011 to 2014).

As bishop of Neuquén he was a regular voice in regional media such as Diario Río Negro, LM Neuquén and local radio. Recorded homilies, including the 2015 Chrism Mass and the Mass for the centenary of Jaime de Nevares's birth, were published by the diocese. In March 2013 he spoke to Diario Río Negro welcoming the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. After his death the Argentine Episcopal Conference and the Dehonian channel Tele Dehon published video tributes.

Bressanelli suffered a stroke at the end of August 2026, and the Diocese of Neuquén asked the faithful to pray for his health. He remained in hospital for more than a month in Resistencia, Chaco, where he lived, and died there at about 10 a.m. on Friday 23 October 2026, aged 84. The news was announced by his fellow Dehonian Arildo José Ferrari and by the Diocese of Neuquén.

That evening Bishop Fernando Croxatto presided at a crowded memorial Mass in Neuquén Cathedral. Bressanelli's body was waked at the Caramuto funeral home in Rosario, Santa Fe, from the afternoon of Saturday 24 October. A funeral Mass was celebrated at the parish of San Francisco de Asís in Maciel, Santa Fe, and he was buried in the Maciel cemetery, the town where he had first entered the Dehonian seminary.