Marcello Semeraro (born 22 December 1947) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints since October 2020. He was previously Bishop of Albano and secretary to the group of cardinals named by
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
to advise him.
On 25 October 2020, Pope Francis announced he would raise him to the rank of cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 28 November 2020.
Biography
Semeraro was born in
Monteroni di Lecce
Monteroni di Lecce (Salentino: is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce, in Apulia, southern Italy. In 2008, it had 13,800 inhabitants. It is from Lecce, in the Salento – the historic Terra d'Otranto.
History
Probably the name Mo ...
,
Province of Lecce
The Province of Lecce ( it, Provincia di Lecce; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy whose capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-p ...
, Italy. He was ordained to the priesthood on 8 September 1971. He received his Doctor of Theology degree in 1980 from the
Pontifical Lateran University
The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pont ...
. On 25 July 1998 he was named
Bishop of Oria
The Italian Catholic Diocese of Oria ( la, Dioecesis Uritana) is in Apulia. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Taranto.Cosmo Francesco Ruppi with Archbishops Domenico Caliandro and Donato Negro as co-consecrators.
He taught at the
Pontifical Lateran University
The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pont ...
in 2001.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
chose him as Special Secretary of the 2001 Synod of Bishops, which considered the role of the bishops in contemporary society. That Synod's final statement pointed to social injustice as the root cause of terrorism and decried third world debt and "the enduring drama of hunger and extreme poverty". Semeraro commented: "There is a strong will to dismantle the image of bishops as men of power and to reinstitute the image of bishops as men of service."
On 1 October 2004 he was named Bishop of Albano.
He is a Consultant to the
Congregation for the Clergy
The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regardi ...
and the
Italian Episcopal Conference
The Italian Episcopal Conference ( it, Conferenza Episcopale Italiana) or CEI is the episcopal conference of the Italian bishops of the Catholic Church, the official assembly of the bishops in Italy.
The conference was founded in 1971 and carrie ...
(IEC), and a member of the IEC Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith.
On 4 May 2007 he was elected president of the administrative board of the IEC newspaper ''
Avvenire
''Avvenire'' (English: "Future") is an Italian daily newspaper which is affiliated with the Catholic Church and is based in Milan.
History and profile
''Avvenire'' was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic newspapers: '' L ...
'', in place of Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, who had been elected president of the IEC.
In June 2010, he became president of the IEC Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith.
On 13 April 2013 Pope Francis appointed him secretary of the commission of cardinals appointed to advise him on the government of the Church and the organization of the Roman Curia.
On 4 November 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Exarchic Monastery and Territorial Abbacy of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata.
In a 2017 interview, Semeraro described the work of the Council of Cardinals: listening, reflecting, and verifying. The Council, he said, listens to the contributions of the Church; reflects on those contributions, and looks into the details of them, considering the best way of going forward. It then makes proposals to the Pope; as Semeraro explained, the Council has a consultative role.
On 15 October 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...
.
On 25 October 2020, Pope Francis announced he would raise him to the rank of cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 28 November 2020. At that consistory, Francis made him Cardinal-Deacon of
Santa Maria in Domnica
The Minor Basilica of St. Mary in Domnica alla Navicella (Basilica Minore di Santa Maria in Domnica alla Navicella), or simply Santa Maria in Domnica or Santa Maria alla Navicella, is a Roman Catholic basilica in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the Bless ...
* ''Mistero, comunione e missione - Manuale di ecclesiologia'' (Bologna, 2004)
* ''Dalla Parte del Padre'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010)
See also
*
Cardinals created by Pope Francis
Pope Francis () has created cardinals at eight consistories held at roughly annual intervals beginning in 2014, most recently on 27 August 2022. He has created 121 cardinals from 66 countries, 23 of which had never been represented in the Col ...