Giovanni Lajolo.html



Styles of Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	none

Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo (born January 3, 1935) is an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2007.

Biography

Giovanni Lajolo was born in Novara to Carlo and Teresa (née Tobia) Lajolo; his father was a physician and his mother held American citizenship from emigrating with her family to the United States before her marriage. He was baptized in the Basilica of San Gaudenzio three days after his birth, on January 6, 1935. Lajolo attended the seminary in Novara before being ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Ugo Poletti (later Vicar General of Rome) on April 29, 1960.

He then went to Rome to study at the Pontifical Roman Seminary and Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he obtained a licentiate in philosophy (1955) and licentiate in theology (1959). He entered the University of Munich, where he earned a doctorate in canon law in 1965. From 1965 to 1968, he studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the Church's school for diplomats. Lajolo entered the service of the Roman Curia in 1970, in the Vatican Secretariat of State. He worked in the nunciature to Germany until 1974, where he collaborated with future cardinal, Corrado Bafile. He later became an official of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church.

On October 3, 1988, Lajolo was appointed Secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See and Titular Archbishop of Caesariana by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on January 6, 1989 from John Paul himself, with Archbishops Edward Idris Cassidy and José Tomás Sánchez serving as co-consecrators, in St. Peter's Basilica. Lajolo was later named Nuncio to Germany on December 7, 1995, and Secretary for Relations with States on October 7, 2003. As Secretary, he served as the foreign minister of the Vatican.

On June 22, 2006, Lajolo was appointed President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governorate of Vatican City State by Pope Benedict XVI. In virtue of these two posts, he is delegated legislative and executive authority over Vatican City by the pope. Pope Benedict later created him Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio in the consistory of November 24, 2007. He was granted membership in the Congregation for Bishops, Pontifical Council for Culture, and Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (of which he had once been Secretary) on June 12, 2008 [1]

References

External links

• Catholic-Hierarchy.org profile
• Catholic-pages bio
• [2]

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