Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Albano, was born in Monteroni di Lecce on 22 December 1947 and ordained a priest on 8 September 1971.

He received his initial formation at the Pontifical Regional Seminary Pius XI in Apulia and subsequently completed his theological studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, where he obtained a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology.  He then began his ministry, teaching dogmatic theology at the Theological Institute of Apulia and ecclesiology in the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Lateran University.

He was appointed to the Episcopal See of Oria on 25 July 1998 and was consecrated a bishop on 29 September 1988.  He was transferred to the Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano on 1 October 2004.  On 15 October 2020, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints by Pope Francis.  He is currently the Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Exarchic Monastery of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata and Pontifical Delegate of the Basilian Order in Italy.

Over the years he has served as Special Secretary of the tenth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on “The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World.”  He participated as a Papal delegate in the fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly on “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World”; in the fifteenth General Assembly on “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment,” and in the Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazonian region in 2019.

He is President of the Regional Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, Proclamation and Catechesis of the Episcopal Conference of Lazio; a member of the Episcopal Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, Proclamation and Catechesis of the CEI; and President of the Board of Directors of “Avvenire – Nuova Editrice SpA.”  He is a member of the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, the Dicastery for Communication and a consultor of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

On 13 April 2020 he was appointed Secretary of the Council of Cardinals to assist the Holy Father in the governance of the Universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia. He has published a number of books, articles and dictionary entries on the theme of ecclesiology.

On 15 October 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  Since 4 December 2020 he is also the Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Territorial Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata and Pontifical Delegate of the Basilian Order in Italy.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 28 November 2020, and was assigned the deaconry Santa Maria in Domnica.

Member of:

• Dicasteries: for the Oriental Churches; for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for Communication; for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Causes of Saints.