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Cardinal Secretary of State

{{short description|Head of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox official post

| post = Secretary of State

| body = His Holiness

| native_name = {{small|Secretarius Status Sanctitatis Suae}}
{{small|Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità}}

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| image = File:Cardinal Parolin (48831176406) (cropped).jpg

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| incumbent = Pietro Parolin

| acting =

| incumbentsince = 15 October 2013

| department = Secretariat of State

| style = His Eminence

| type =

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| member_of = Roman Curia
Council of Cardinals

| reports_to = the Pope

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| appointer = the Pope

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| termlength = No term length

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| formation = 20 November 1551

| first = Girolamo Dandini

| last =

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| unofficial_names = Cardinal Secretary of State

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{{Politics of Vatican City}}

The Secretary of State of His Holiness ({{langx|la|Secretarius Status Sanctitatis Suae}}; {{langx|it|Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità}}), also known as the Cardinal Secretary of State or the Vatican Secretary of State, presides over the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia.{{cite web | url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/documents/rc_seg-st_12101998_profile_en.html | title=Profile: The Secretariat of State | access-date=18 April 2007 | publisher=The Holy See | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506004504/http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/documents/rc_seg-st_12101998_profile_en.html | archive-date=6 May 2012 | url-status=live }} The Secretariat of State performs all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See and Vatican City. The secretary of state is sometimes described as the prime minister of the Holy See, but the head of government of Vatican City is the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State.{{cite news |date=25 August 2017 |title=The Vatican's secretary of state visits Moscow for the first time in 19 years |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2017/08/religious-diplomacy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825212730/https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2017/08/religious-diplomacy |archive-date=25 August 2017 |access-date=26 August 2017 |newspaper=The Economist}}

Cardinal Pietro Parolin has served as secretary of state since 2013, nominated by Francis and temporarily confirmed also by Leo XIV in May 2025.{{cite web |url=http://attualita.vatican.va/sala-stampa/bollettino/2013/08/31/news/31610.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=28 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922060821/http://attualita.vatican.va/sala-stampa/bollettino/2013/08/31/news/31610.html |archive-date=22 September 2013 }}

Duties

The secretary of state is appointed by the Pope, and serves as one of his principal advisors. As one of the senior offices in the Roman Catholic Church, the secretary is required to be a cardinal. If the office is vacant, a someone other than a cardinal may serve as provisional secretary of state, exercising the powers of the Secretary of State until a suitable replacement is found or the Pro-Secretary is made a cardinal in a subsequent consistory.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Curia|title=Roman Curia | Roman Catholicism|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=10 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830134603/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Curia|archive-date=30 August 2019|url-status=live}}

The secretary's term ends when the Pope who appointed him dies or leaves office. During the sede vacante period, the former secretary acts as a member of a commission with the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and the former President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, which exercises some of the functions of the head of state of the Vatican City State until a new Pope is elected. Once the new Pope is chosen, the former secretary's role in the commission likewise expires, though he can be re-appointed as Secretary of State.

History

The office traces its origins to that of secretarius intimus, created by Pope Leo X in the early 16th century to handle correspondence with the diplomatic missions of the Holy See, which were just beginning to become permanent postings instead of missions sent on particular occasions. At this stage the secretary was a fairly minor functionary, the papal administration being led by the Cardinal Nephew, the Pope's confidant usually taken from his family.

The imprudence of Pope Julius III in entrusting the office of Cardinal Nephew to his alleged lover Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, a teenaged, virtually illiterate street urchin whom his brother had adopted a few years earlier, led to an upgrading of the Secretary's job, as the incumbent had to take over the duties the Cardinal Nephew was unfit for. By the time of Pope Innocent X the Secretary of State was always himself a Cardinal, and Pope Innocent XII abolished the office of Cardinal Nephew in 1692. From then onwards the Secretary of State has been the most important of the officials of the Holy See.

The separate position of Cardinal Secretary for Internal State Affairs was created by Pope Gregory XVI in 1833 at the request of Tommaso Bernetti, then Secretary of State, reducing the workload of the Secretary of State.Pope Gregory XVI, [https://www.vatican.va/content/gregorius-xvi/it/documents/chirografo-avendoci-ella-20-febbraio-1833.html Chirografo Avendoci Ella], in Italian, issued on 20 February 1833, accessed on 2 November 2024

In 1968, Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae further enhanced the powers of the Secretary of State, placing him over all the other departments of the Roman Curia. In 1973 Pope Paul further broadened the Secretaryship by abolishing the ancient office of Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church and merging its functions into those of the Secretary of State.

List

=Secretaries of State between 1551 and 1644=

=Cardinal Secretaries of State since 1644=

class=wikitable style="font-size:100%; text-align:center;"

! scope="col" | No.[https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dxsta.html Catholic Hierarchy]

! scope="col" style="border-right:none;" |

! scope="col" style="border-left:none;" | Name

! scope="col" style="width:20%;"| From

! scope="col" style="width:20%;"| Until

! scope="col" style="width:20%;" | First appointer

scope="row" | 1

|70px

|Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli
{{small|(1587–1651)}}

|15 September 1644

|3 September 1651 †

|rowspan=2|Innocent X

scope="row" | 2

|70px

|Fabio Chigi
{{small|(1599–1667)}}

|3 December 1652

|7 January 1655

scope="row" | 3

|70px

|Giulio Rospigliosi
{{small|(1600–1669)}}

|7 April 1655

|22 May 1667

|Alexander VII

scope="row" | 4

|70px

|Decio Azzolino
{{small|(1623–1689)}}

|25 June 1667

|9 December 1669

|Clement IX

scope="row" | 5

|70px

|Federico Borromeo
{{small|(1617–1673)}}

|11 May 1670

|18 February 1673 †

|rowspan=2|Clement X

scope="row" | 6

|70px

|Francesco Nerli
{{small|(1636–1708)}}

|1 August 1673

|22 July 1676

scope="row" | 7

|70px

|Alderano Cybo-Malaspina
{{small|(1613–1700)}}

|23 September 1676

|12 August 1689

|Innocent XI

scope="row" | 8

|70px

|Giambattista Rubini
{{small|(1642–1707)}}

|6 October 1689

|1 February 1691

|Alexander VIII

scope="row" | 9

|70px

|Fabrizio Spada
{{small|(1643–1717)}}

|14 July 1691

|27 September 1700

|Innocent XII

scope="row" | 10

|70px

|Fabrizio Paolucci
{{small|(1651–1726)}}

|3 December 1700

|19 March 1721

|Clement XI

scope="row" | 11

|70px

|Giorgio Spinola
{{small|(1667–1739)}}

|10 May 1721

|7 March 1724

|Innocent XIII

scope="row" | 12
(10)

|70px

|Fabrizio Paolucci
{{small|(1651–1726)}}

|6 June 1724

|12 June 1726 †

|rowspan=2|Benedict XIII

scope="row" | 13

|70px

|Niccolò Maria Lercari
{{small|(1675–1757)}}

|21 June 1726

|21 February 1730

scope="row" | 14

|70px

|Antonio Banchieri
{{small|(1667–1733)}}

|15 July 1730

|16 September 1733 †

|rowspan=2|Clement XII

scope="row" | 15

|70px

|Giuseppe Firrao the Elder
{{small|(1670–1744)}}

|4 October 1733

|6 February 1740

scope="row" | 16

|70px

|Silvio Valenti Gonzaga
{{small|(1690–1756)}}

|20 August 1740

|28 August 1756 †

|rowspan=2|Benedict XIV

scope="row" | 17

|70px

|Alberico Archinto
{{small|(1698–1758)}}

|20 September 1756

|30 September 1758 †

scope="row" | 18

|70px

|Ludovico Maria Torriggiani
{{small|(1697–1777)}}

|8 October 1758

|2 February 1769

|Clement XIII

scope="row" | 19

|70px

|Lazzaro Opizio Pallavicini
{{small|(1719–1785)}}

|19 May 1769

|23 February 1785 †

|Clement XIV

scope="row" | 20

|70px

|Ignazio Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi
{{small|(1743–1790)}}

|29 June 1785

|30 September 1789

|rowspan=4|Pius VI

scope="row" | 21

|70px

|Francesco Saverio de Zelada
{{small|(1717–1801)}}

|14 October 1789

|10 February 1796

scope="row" | 22

|70px

|Ignazio Busca
{{small|(1731–1803)}}

|9 August 1796

|18 March 1797

scope="row" | 23

|70px

|Giuseppe Maria Doria Pamphilj
{{small|(1751–1816)}}

|18 March 1797

|29 August 1799

scope="row" | 24

|70px

|Ercole Consalvi
{{small|(1757–1824)}}

|11 August 1800

|17 June 1806

|rowspan=4|Pius VII

scope="row" | 25

|70px

|Filippo Casoni
{{small|(1733–1811)}}

|17 June 1806

|2 February 1808

scope="row" | 26

|70px

|Giulio Gabrielli the Younger
{{small|(1748–1822)}}

|26 March 1808

|26 July 1814

scope="row" | 27
(24)

|70px

|Ercole Consalvi
{{small|(1757–1824)}}

|26 July 1814

|20 August 1823

scope="row" | 28

|70px

|Giulio Maria della Somaglia
{{small|(1744–1830)}}

|28 September 1823

|17 January 1828

|rowspan=2|Leo XII

scope="row" | 29

|70px

|Tommaso Bernetti
{{small|(1779–1852)}}

|17 January 1828

|10 February 1829

scope="row" | 30

|70px

|Giuseppe Albani
{{small|(1750–1834)}}

|31 March 1829

|30 November 1830

|Pius VIII

scope="row" | 31
(29)

|70px

|Tommaso Bernetti
{{small|(1779–1852)}}

|21 February 1831

|12 January 1836

|rowspan=2|Gregory XVI

scope="row" | 32

|70px

|Luigi Lambruschini
{{small|(1776–1854)}}

|12 January 1836

|1 June 1846

scope="row" | 33

|70px

|Tommaso Pasquale Gizzi
{{small|(1787–1849)}}

|8 August 1846

|5 July 1847

|rowspan=8|Pius IX

scope="row" | 34

|70px

|Gabriele Ferretti
{{small|(1795–1860)}}

|17 July 1847

|1 February 1848

scope="row" | 35

|70px

|Giuseppe Bofondi
{{small|(1795–1867)}}

|1 February 1848

|10 March 1848

scope="row" | 36

|70px

|Giacomo Antonelli
{{small|(1806–1876)}}

|10 March 1848

|4 May 1848

scope="row" | 37

|70px

|Antonio Francesco Orioli
{{small|(1778–1852)}}

|4 May 1848

|2 June 1848

scope="row" | 38

|70px

|Giovanni Soglia Ceroni
{{small|(1779–1856)}}

|4 June 1848

|29 November 1848

scope="row" | 39
(36)

|70px

|Giacomo Antonelli
{{small|(1806–1876)}}

|29 November 1848

|6 November 1876 †

scope="row" | 40

|70px

|Giovanni Simeoni
{{small|(1816–1892)}}

|18 December 1876

|5 March 1878

scope="row" | 41

|70px

|Alessandro Franchi
{{small|(1819–1878)}}

|5 March 1878

|31 July 1878 †

|rowspan=4|Leo XIII

scope="row" | 42

|70px

|Lorenzo Nina
{{small|(1812–1885)}}

|9 August 1878

|16 December 1880

scope="row" | 43

|70px

|Luigi Jacobini
{{small|(1832–1887)}}

|16 December 1880

|28 February 1887 †

scope="row" | 44

|70px

|Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro
{{small|(1843–1913)}}

|2 July 1887

|20 July 1903

scope="row" | 45

|70px

|Rafael Merry del Val
{{small|(1865–1930)}}

|12 November 1903

|20 August 1914

|Pius X

scope="row" | 46

|70px

|Domenico Ferrata
{{small|(1847–1914)}}

|4 September 1914

|10 October 1914 †

|rowspan=2|Benedict XV

scope="row" | 47

|70px

|Pietro Gasparri
{{small|(1852–1934)}}

|13 October 1914

|7 February 1930

scope="row" | 48

|70px

|Eugenio Pacelli
{{small|(1876–1958)}}

|9 February 1930

|10 February 1939

|Pius XI

scope="row" |49

|70px

|Luigi Maglione
{{small|(1877–1944)}}

|10 March 1939

|22 August 1944 †

|Pius XII

colspan=6|Office vacantPope Pius XII, having been the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI, did not name a Secretary after the death of Cardinal Maglione in 1944. Beneath his direct supervision, the duties were divided between two protonotaries apostolic, Domenico Tardini and Giovanni Battista Montini, who in 1952 were both named Pro-Secretary of State, for Extraordinary and Ordinary affairs respectively. In 1954 Montini (the future Pope Paul VI) was appointed Archbishop of Milan, thus leaving the Roman Curia.
scope="row" | 50

|70px

|Domenico Tardini
{{small|(1888–1961)}}

|15 December 1958

|30 July 1961 †

|rowspan=2|John XXIII

scope="row" | 51

|70px

|Amleto Giovanni Cicognani
{{small|(1883–1973)}}

|12 August 1961

|30 April 1969

scope="row" | 52

|70px

|Jean-Marie Villot
{{small|(1905–1979)}}

|2 May 1969

|9 March 1979 †

|Paul VI

scope="row" | 53

|70px

|Agostino Casaroli
{{small|(1914–1998)}}

|1 July 1979

|1 December 1990

|rowspan=2|John Paul II

scope="row" | 54

|70px

|Angelo Sodano
{{small|(1927–2022)}}

|29 June 1991

|15 September 2006

scope="row" |55

|70px

|Tarcisio Bertone
{{small|(b. 1934)}}

|15 September 2006

|15 October 2013

|Benedict XVI

scope="row" |56

|70px

|Pietro Parolin
{{small|(b. 1955)}}

|15 October 2013

|Incumbent

|Francis

In popular culture

  • Silvio Orlando portrayed fictional Cardinal Secretary of State Voiello in the 2016 Sky Italia Sky Atlantic HBO Canal+ co-produced television series The Young Pope and the 2019 follow-up series The New Pope.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2015/tv/global/paolo-sorrentinos-young-pope-rounds-out-cast-with-top-international-talent-1201555978/|title=Paolo Sorrentino's 'Young Pope' Rounds Out Cast With James Cromwell And Slew Of Top International Talent|first1=Nick|last1=Vivarelli|date=4 August 2015|access-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808081719/https://variety.com/2015/tv/global/paolo-sorrentinos-young-pope-rounds-out-cast-with-top-international-talent-1201555978/|archive-date=8 August 2016|url-status=live}}
  • Robert Harris' novel Conclave features fictional Cardinal Secretary of State Aldo Bellini. The character is played by Stanley Tucci in the film adaptation.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons category|Cardinal Secretaries of State}}

  • {{Official|https://www.vatican.va/content/romancuria/en/segreteria-di-stato/segreteria-di-stato/struttura.html}}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070115145857/http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=91490 Secretary of State: a Top Collaborator]

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Category:1551 establishments in the Papal States