Giovanni Lajolo
President of the Governorate of the Vatican
Incumbent
Assumed office  15 September 2006
Monarch	Benedict XVI
Preceded by	Edmund Szoka
Born	3 January 1935 (1935-01-03) (age 74) Novara, Italy
Religion	Roman Catholic

Styles of Giovanni Lajolo
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Caesariana

Giovanni Lajolo (born 3 January 1935 in Novara, Italy) is the current Cardinal President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

Contents 1 Early life and ordination 2 Secretariat of State 3 Bishop 4 Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State 5 Curial work 6 Secretary for Relations with States 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early life and ordination

He studied at the Seminary of Novara, the Pontifical Roman Seminary, and the Pontifical Gregorian University where he earned a licentiate in philosophy in 1955 and a licentiate in theology in 1959. He was ordained a priest on 29 April 1960.^[1] He entered the University of Munich where he studied for a doctorate in canon law which he was awarded in 1965. Then in 1965 he entered the elite Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to study diplomacy, leaving in 1968.

[edit] Secretariat of State

He entered the service of the Secretariat of State in 1970. He worked in the nunciature in Germany collaborating with Corrado Bafile, future cardinal, from 1970 to November 1974. He was a staff member of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church from November 1974. He was named counselor of nunciature on 1 January 1983. He closely followed the negotiations that led to the signing, in 1984, of the revision of the concordat between Italy and Holy See.

[edit] Bishop

On 3 October 1988, Lajolo was appointed Secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See and Titular Archbishop of Caesariana^[2] by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 6 January 1989 from John Paul himself, with archbishops Edward Idris Cassidy and José Tomás Sánchez serving as co-consecrators, in St. Peter's Basilica. Lajolo was later named Nuncio to Germany on 7 December 1995, and Secretary for Relations with States on 7 October 2003. As Secretary, he served as the foreign minister of the Vatican.

[edit] Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State

On 22 June 2006, Lajolo was appointed President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governorate of Vatican City State by Pope Benedict XVI. In virtue of these two posts, he is delegated legislative and executive authority over Vatican City by the pope. Pope Benedict later created him Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio in the consistory of 24 November 2007.^[3]

[edit] Curial work

He was granted membership in the Congregation for Bishops, Pontifical Council for Culture, and Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (of which he had once been Secretary) on 12 June 2008 ^[4].

[edit] Secretary for Relations with States

He served as the Secretary for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State, or foreign minister of the Holy See, from 2003 until his appointment as President in 2006.^[1] He speaks Italian, German, English and French.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Catholic-Hierarchy.org profile
• Catholic-pages bio
• Cardinal Lajolo(2006),Today's world and the ideology of power. General Debate of the 61st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Jean-Louis Tauran	Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See 2003 – 2006	Succeeded by Dominique Mamberti
Preceded by Edmund Szoka	President of the Governorate of the Vatican 2006 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Edmund Szoka	President of the Pontifical Commission of the Vatican 2006 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent