Cardinal Louis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Urban University, Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila, was born on 21 June 1957 in Manila, the Philippines.

He received his religious education at Saint Andrew’s School in Parañaque, then run by the Scheut Missionaries. After leaving school, he entered the Jesuit-run interdiocesan Saint Joseph Seminary in the capital, where he studied philosophy at the Athenaeum of the University of Manila and theology at the Loyola School of Theology.

He was ordained a deacon on 18 July 1981 and a priest on 27 February 1982. During his first three years of priesthood, he served in parish ministry and as spiritual director of the Diocesan Theological Seminary in Imus, of which he was later Rector. He taught philosophy and theology at the Divine Word and San Carlos Seminaries and at the Loyola School of Theology.

In 1985 he was sent to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. to study systematic theology.  He received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1987 and a Doctorate summa cum laude in 1991.

Upon his return to Imus in 1992, he resumed his duties as rector of the seminary. He was also a member of the College of Consultors and of the Presbyteral Council and Episcopal Vicar for Religious. In 1998 he was appointed parish priest of Our Lady of Pilar Cathedral.  Meanwhile, he continued to teach theology. He gave lectures, led retreats and organized seminars for priests, religious and laity in the Philippines and abroad. He also participated in the activities of the Bishops’ Conference and the Federation of Episcopal Conferences of Asia, becoming a sought-after speaker.

During this period he was a member of the Editorial Committee of the Institute of Religious Sciences of Bologna, involved in drafting the History of the Second Vatican Council. In 1997 he was appointed a member of the International Theological Commission and in 1998 he participated as an expert in the Special Assembly for Asia of the Synod of Bishops.

On 22 October 2001 he was appointed Bishop of Imus and was consecrated bishop on 12 December of the same year. He gave special attention to the youth and gave weekly video broadcasts on the liturgical readings on the internet.

He was appointed Archbishop of Manila on 13 October 2011. He took possession of the archdiocese on 12 December.

He was President-Delegate of the third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 2014) on the theme “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelisation.” He was also President-Delegate of the fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly on The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Modern World (October 2015).

He participated in the conclave of March 2013 that elected Pope Francis.

On 8 December 2019, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and on 19 March 2022, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the Consistory of 24 November 2012, and was assigned the titular church San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle.

On 1 May 2020, by Rescriptum ex Audentia Ss.mi, the Holy Father Francis decided to make Cardinal Tagle a member of the Order of Bishops, equating him in all respects with Cardinal Bishops who have received the Title of a Suburbicarian Church.

Member of:

• Dicasteries: for the Eastern Churches; for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for Legislative Texts; for Inter-religious Dialogue; for Culture and Education; for Evangelization - Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World
• Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See;
• Commission of Cardinals for the Supervision of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR);
• Council of the Section for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Secretariat of State.