X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Cardinal Secretary of State


Cardinal Secretary of State

If the office is vacant, a non-cardinal may serve as Pro-tem 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.

Ioan Robu

He was elected diocesan administrator on December 1, 1983 and apostolic administrator and bishop on October 25, 1984 before being consecrated titular bishop of Cellae in Proconsulari on December 8, 1984 in Rome by Cardinal Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli.

Josef Wirmer

Whether, as some believe, he tried to get the then Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, to intervene personally cannot be proved by any sources from that time.

Ludwig Kaas

After this achievement, Pacelli was called back to the Vatican to be appointed Cardinal Secretary of State.

Papal conclave, 1823

The leader of this faction was Pius VII's Cardinal Secretary of State, Ercole Consalvi, but the zelanti wanted a much less moderate pontiff and they set fervently to this task from the time of Pius VII's death.

Pompeo Gabrielli

On 13 January 1848, amid the turmoil caused by the expected break out of the First Italian War of Independence, and as a consequence of Pius IX’s willingness to reform the institutions of the State, Pompeo Gabrielli was chosen as Minister of War by Giuseppe Bofondi, the newly appointed Cardinal Secretary of State.


Achille Marie Joseph Glorieux

His consecration to the Episcopate took place on 9 November 1969, the principal consecrator was Jean-Marie Villot, Cardinal Secretary of State, and the principal co-consecrators were Alberto Castelli, Titular Archbishop of Rhusium and Adrien-Edmond-Maurice Gand, Bishop of Lille.

Holy See–Pakistan relations

On 1 October 2009, Asif Ali Zardari, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, met Pope Benedict XVI at his residence in Castelgandolfo and then also met with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States.


see also

Rudolf Buttmann

From left to right: German prelate and politician Ludwig Kaas, German Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, Secretary of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs Giuseppe Pizzardo, Cardinal Secretary of State Pacelli, Alfredo Ottaviani, and Reich minister Rudolf Buttmann.