New cardinal profile: Archbishop Dominique Mamberti

January 06, 2015

Topping the list of new cardinals announced by Pope Francis on January 4 is Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, 62, the newly appointed prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Archbishop Mamberti was born in 1952 to a Corsican family in Marrakesh, Morocco, where his father, a French defense official, was then assigned. An only son, the future prelate grew up in Vico, a town of 1,000 on the island of Corsica.

Mamberti studied law at the University of Strasbourg and the University of Paris before entering the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome. He was ordained to the diocesan priesthood in 1981 by the bishop of Ajaccio, Corsica’s diocese.

Father Mamberti’s bishop sent him to the Pontifical Gregorian University to study canon law, and the priest was soon tapped to enter the diplomatic service of the Holy See, studying at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was assigned to posts in Algeria, Chile, the United Nations, and Lebanon before returning to Rome to work at the Section for Relations with States, or Vatican foreign ministry.

In 2002, Pope St. John Paul II appointed him apostolic nuncio to Sudan and apostolic delegate to Somalia, both known for their repressive regimes. Named an archbishop, he was consecrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, then the Vatican’s Secretary of State, with the future Cardinal Robert Sarah and the bishop of Ajaccio acting as principal co-consecrators.

In 2004, while remaining apostolic nuncio to Sudan, he ceased to be apostolic delegate to Somalia but became apostolic delegate to Eritrea.

On September 15, 2006, three days after his famous Regensburg lecture, Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Mamberti his Secretary for Relations with States, or foreign minister, succeeding the future Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, whom the Pontiff had named president of the Governatorate of Vatican City State. In August 2013, Pope Francis confirmed Archbishop Mamberti in his position.

During his eight years of work as Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Mamberti articulated the Holy See’s position on numerous issues, including the right to life, religious liberty, nuclear weapons, climate change, and human trafficking. In 2011, while speaking to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, he called for the institution of an international day against the persecution of Christians.

In November 2014, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Mamberti, who holds degrees in civil and canon law, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, succeeding Cardinal Raymond Burke.

 

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Further information:

• Annuncio di Concistoro per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali (Holy See Press Office)
• Dominique Mamberti, le cinquième cardinal français électeur (La Croix)
• Un Français Au Côté Du Pape (Le Figaro)