H.Em. Card. Tarcisio Bertone

H.Em. Card. Tarcisio Bertone, present Secretary of Vatican State, received his priestly ordination in 1960. He then obtained his License in Sacred Theology from the Salesian Theological Faculty in Turin. Thereafter, continuing his studies in Rome at the Pontifical University Salesiana, where he obtained his License and Doctorate in Canon Law, with a study on “Il governo della Chiesa nel pensiero di Benedetto XIV- Papa Lambertini (1740-1758)”.

In 1967, he assumed the Special Moral Theology Chair at the Salesian University, and was subsequently called to direct the Faculty of Canon Law, where he taught until 1991.

In 1978, he was invited as Professor of “Public Ecclesiastical Law” at the Institutum Utriusaue Iuris of the Pontifical University Lateranense. He was Director of Theologies, Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law, Vice-rector, and subsequently Rector Major of the Pontifical University Salesiana.

He collaborated in the last phase of the revision of the Code of Canon Law, and he directed the work group that translated the Code into Italian. In the 1980’s, he exercised an intense and qualified service to the Holy See, as a Consultor in different Dicasteries of the Roman Curia. He actively collaborated with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, especially concerning the arguments of theological-juridical character. In 1991, the Holy Father called him to guide the oldest Piedmont Diocese, the Archdiocese of Vercelli. Then in 1993, he was nominated by the CEI, President of the Ecclesial Justice and Peace Commission. In this role, he signed and promoted the two documents: “Legality, justice and morality” (1993), and “Social state and education in the society” (1995).

In 1995, John Paul II nominated him Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was given the responsibility by the Holy Father to oversee the publication of the third part of the “secret” of Fatima (Il messaggio di Fatima, Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2000).

At the end of 2002, John Paul II nominated him Archbishop of Metropolitan Genoa and he was the President of the Ligure Episcopal Conference. He was also a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as member of the Congregation of Clergy, and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the discipline of the Sacraments. In 2003, with the solemn celebration in St. Peter’s, he was made Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church by Pope John Paul II, and was assigned S. Maria Ausiliatrice in via Tuscolana. He was nominated Secretary of State in 2006.