Marcello Semeraro

Marcello Semeraro was born in Monteroni di Lecce on 22 December 1947 and was ordained a priest on 8 September 1971. He trained at the Pius XI Pontifical Regional Seminary of Apulia in Molfetta and earned a licence and doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he later taught ecclesiology, having taught dogmatic theology at the Apulian Theological Institute. Elected Bishop of Oria on 25 July 1998 and consecrated on 29 September 1998, on 1 October 2004 he was transferred to the suburbicarian diocese of Albano, which he led until 15 October 2020, when Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, now the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. From 13 April 2020 he was secretary of the Council of Cardinals. Pope Francis created him a cardinal at the consistory of 28 November 2020, in the Order of Deacons, with the deaconry of Santa Maria in Domnica. He is a member of the Dicasteries for the Eastern Churches, for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, for Communication, for the Doctrine of the Faith and for the Causes of Saints. On 17 October 2026 he presided in Ibiza, on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, at the beatification of Juan Torres Torres and 19 companion martyrs (sources: Holy See Press Office; L'Osservatore Romano).