Sisto Riario Sforza

Sisto Riario Sforza (5 December 1810 – 29 September 1877) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Naples from 1845 until his death. Sforza's rapid rise through the Church ranks began with various appointments before he served as the Bishop of Aversa for seven months. He was promoted to the Naples archdiocese and cardinalate. After two months , Sisto became a close supporter of Pope Pius IX and a vocal participant in the First Vatican Council.

He opposed Italian unification and was temporarily exiled from Naples after unification when he refused to adhere to the requests that the new government made of him.

Death The cardinal died from cardiac difficulties at the end of a month-long illness on 29 September 1877 in Naples; his remains were exposed then buried in the church of Santa Maria del Pianto and the Naples Cathedral before being moved to their final resting place in the chapel of the SS. Crocifisso in the church of SS. XII Apostoli in April 1927. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XII on 3 August 1947 and Sforza was titled as a Servant of God. Ascalesi oversaw the beginning of an apostolic process on 14 July 1950 which was concluded under Ascalesi's successor Marcello Mimmi on 28 November 1952. Michele Giordano oversaw the final investigation from 27 June 1995 until sometime later.

The documentation collected from these processes was sent in boxes to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints who validated the previous processes on 23 May 1997; the C.C.S. later received the Positio dossier for evaluation in 2003. Historical consultants approved the cause on 30 March 2004. Theologians confirmed the cause on 18 February 2011 as did the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. on 8 May 2012. Pope Benedict XVI named Sforza as Venerable on 28 June 2012 after confirming that Sforza had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue.

The current postulator for this cause is the Franciscan friar Giovangiuseppe Califano.