Rolandas Makrickas (born 31 January 1972) is a Lithuanian Catholic prelate who has served as archpriest of the

Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...

since 2025. He worked in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

from 2006 to 2021, when he was given responsibility for reorganizing the administration of the basilica. He was granted the personal title of archbishop in 2023 and made a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 2024.

Biography

Early life and education

Rolandas Makrickas was born on 31 January 1972 in

Biržai Biržai (, also known by several alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The exact origin of th ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, the youngest of five children. Because Soviet authorities restricted religious practice and catechesis, his early religious education was private and tersely accomplished. The end of the Soviet era allowed him to gain a more extensive understanding of his faith and ways of experiencing beyond ritual. While young he flew gliders and briefly considered a career in aviation. He entered

Kaunas Priest Seminary Kaunas Priest Seminary () is the largest seminary in Lithuania serving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas. It is part of the Faculty of Theology of Vytautas Magnus University. Its current rector is Aurelijus Žukauskas. As of 2007, the semi ...

in 1990, the second year it operated, and beginning in 1991 lived at the St. Casimir Lithuanian College in Rome while studying philosophy and theology at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

. He was ordained a priest of the

Diocese of Panevėžys In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

on 30 July 1996. From 1996 to 2001 he was under-secretary of the Lithuanian Bishops' Conference and headed the National Committee of the

Great Jubilee The Great Jubilee in 2000 was a major event in the Catholic Church, held from Christmas Eve (24 December) 1999 to Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany (6 January) 2001. Like previous Jubilee in the Catholic Church, Jubilee years, it was a celebration of ...

of 2000. He earned a doctorate in church history at the Gregorian in 2004.

Diplomatic service

He studied at the

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (, ) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Despite its name, the P ...

from 2003 to 2006 and joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 July 2006 and fulfilled assignments first in Bolivia, in Georgia where he witnessed the destruction of the

Russo-Georgian War The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

, and in Sweden where the nunciature was responsible for several northern countries. He served in the United States from 2013 to 2017, which included a papal visit. For two years, he was chargé d'affaires in Gabon and counselor in Congo, where he joined in the Church's delivery of social services and managed a construction project. On 10 August 2019, he joined the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State in Rome as head of administration, the first non-Italian to hold that position. In that role he participated in the reorganization of the Vatican's financial and administrative functions.

Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

On 15 December 2021, Pope Francis appointed him extraordinary commissioner with responsibility for managing the assets of the chapter of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, citing "the particular complexities of the economic and financial management of the Chapter ... exacerbated by the spread of the /nowiki>COVID-19">COVID-19.html" ;"title="/nowiki>COVID-19">/nowiki>COVID-19/nowiki> pandemic". The pope left a meeting to offer him the post in a brief hallway conversation. Despite that characterization of his role, he repeatedly acted as spokesperson for the basilica's events and initiatives. On 23 February 2023, the pope made him titular bishop of Tolentino with the personal title of archbishop. Makrickas received his episcopal consecration on 15 April from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, with co-consecrators Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, Archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore, and Archbishop

Edgar Peña Parra Edgar Robinson Peña Parra (born 6 March 1960) is a Venezuelan Catholic prelate who has served as Substitute for the Secretariat of State for the Holy See since 2018. He joined the diplomatic corps of the Holy See in 1993, serving as Apostolic ...

. On 20 March 2024, ending Makrickas' role as commissioner and redefining the role of the Basilica's canons, Pope Francis named him coadjutor archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore. Pope Francis announced on 6 October 2024 that he planned to make him a cardinal on 8 December, a date that was later changed to 7 December. On 7 December 2024, Pope Francis made him a cardinal, assigning him as a member of the order of cardinal deacons the deaconry of

Sant'Eustachio Sant'Eustachio () is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, named for the martyr Saint Eustace. It is located on Via di Sant'Eustachio in the Sant'Eustachio (rione of Rome), rione Sant'Eustachio, a block west of the Pantheo ...

. He participated as a

cardinal elector A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

. He succeeded as archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore upon the 80th birthday of his predecessor, 4 July 2025.

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