Cardinal Emil Paul Tscherrig, former Apostolic Nuncio in Italy and San Marino, was born in Unterems, Switzerland, on 3 February 1947.

He was ordained a priest on 11 April 1974 and incardinated in the Diocese of Sion, Switzerland. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1978 as Secretary of Apostolic Nunciatures, serving in Uganda, South Korea, Mongolia and Bangladesh.

On 26 November 1992 the Pope conferred on him the title of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness.

On 4 May 1996 Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Archbishop of Voli and Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi. His episcopal consecration was presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano on 27 June of the same year.

In 2000 he was appointed Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, Santa Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Bahamas, and from 2001 also to Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2004 he was named Nuncio in South Korea and Mongolia.

In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Nuncio to the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway), based in Stockholm, and then, on 5 January 2012, Apostolic Nuncio to Argentina.

From 12 September 2017 to 11 March 2024 he was Nuncio to Italy and San Marino. Cardinal Tscherrig was the first non-Italian to hold this post.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 30 September 2023, and was assigned the deaconry San Giuseppe in Via Trionfale.

Member of:

• Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
• Dicasteries: for the Causes of the Saints; for Evangelisation - Section for the First Evangelisation and the New Particular Churches; for Bishops.
• Commission of Cardinals for the Supervision of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR);