The Secretary of State of the Holy See, also known as the Cardinal Secretary of State,[1] the Secretary of State of His Holiness (Latin: Secretarius Status Sanctitatis Suae; Italian: Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità) or the Vatican Secretary of State, presides over the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia.[2] The Secretariat of State performs all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See and Vatican City. The Cardinal Secretary of State is considered the head of government of the Holy See, equivalent to a prime minister.[3][4]
Cardinal Pietro Parolin has served as secretary of state since 2013, nominated by Pope Francis and confirmed by Pope Leo XIV in May 2025.[5]
Duties
The secretary of state is appointed by the pope, and serves as one of his principal advisors. As one of the senior offices in the Roman Catholic Church, the secretary is required to be a cardinal. If the office is vacant, a someone other than a cardinal may serve as provisional secretary of state, exercising the powers of the secretary of state until a suitable replacement is found or the pro-secretary is made a cardinal in a subsequent consistory.[6]
The secretary's term ends when the pope who appointed him dies or leaves office. During the sede vacante period, the former secretary acts as a member of a commission with the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and the former president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, which exercises some of the functions of the head of state of the Vatican City State until a new pope is elected. Once the new pope is chosen, the former secretary's role in the commission likewise expires, though he can be re-appointed as secretary of state.[6]
History
The office traces its origins to that of secretarius intimus, created by Pope Leo X in the early 16th century to handle correspondence with the diplomatic missions of the Holy See, which were just beginning to become permanent postings instead of missions sent on particular occasions. At this stage the secretary was a fairly minor functionary, the papal administration being led by the Cardinal Nephew, the pope's confidant usually taken from his family.
The imprudence of Pope Julius III in entrusting the office of cardinal nephew to his alleged lover Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, a teenaged, virtually illiterate street urchin whom his brother had adopted a few years earlier, led to an upgrading of the secretary's job, as the incumbent had to take over the duties the cardinal nephew was unfit for. By the time of Pope Innocent X the secretary of state was always himself a cardinal, and Pope Innocent XII abolished the office of cardinal nephew in 1692. From then onward the secretary of state has been the most important of the officials of the Holy See.
The separate position of Cardinal Secretary for Internal State Affairs was created by Pope Gregory XVI in 1833 at the request of Tommaso Bernetti, then secretary of state, reducing the workload of the secretary of state.[7]
In 1968, Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae further enhanced the powers of the secretary of state, placing him over all the other departments of the Roman Curia. In 1973 Pope Paul further broadened the secretaryship by abolishing the ancient office of Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church and merging its functions into those of the secretary of state.
List
Secretaries of State between 1551 and 1644
- Girolamo Dandini (1551–1555)
- Carlo Borromeo (1560–1565)
- Tolomeo Gallio (1565–1566)
- Girolamo Rusticucci (1566–1572)
- Tolomeo Gallio (again) (1572–1585)
- Decio Azzolini (seniore) (1585–1587)
- Alessandro Peretti di Montalto (Cardinal Nephew) (1587–1590)
- Paolo Emilio Sfondrati (Cardinal Nephew) (1591)
- Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti de Nuce (Cardinal Nephew) (1591)
- Pierbenedetto Peretti (1592–1593)
- Pietro Aldobrandini (Cardinal Nephew) and Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini (Cardinal Nephew) (1593–1605)
- Roberto Ubaldini (1605)
- Erminio Valenti (1605)
- Lanfranco Margotti (1605–1611)
- Porfirio Feliciani (1611–1621)
- Giovanni Battista Agucchi (1621–1623)
- Lorenzo Magalotti (1623–1628)
- Lorenzo Azzolini (1628–1632)
- Pietro Benessa (1632–1634)
- Francesco Adriano Ceva (1634–1643)
- Giovanni Battista Spada (1643–1644)
Cardinal Secretaries of State since 1644
| No.[8] | Name | From | Until | First appointer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli (1587–1651) | 15 September 1644 | 3 September 1651 † | Innocent X | |
| 2 | Fabio Chigi (1599–1667) | 3 December 1652 | 7 January 1655 | ||
| 3 | Giulio Rospigliosi (1600–1669) | 7 April 1655 | 22 May 1667 | Alexander VII | |
| 4 | Decio Azzolino (1623–1689) | 25 June 1667 | 9 December 1669 | Clement IX | |
| 5 | Federico Borromeo (1617–1673) | 11 May 1670 | 18 February 1673 † | Clement X | |
| 6 | Francesco Nerli (1636–1708) | 1 August 1673 | 22 July 1676 | ||
| 7 | Alderano Cybo-Malaspina (1613–1700) | 23 September 1676 | 12 August 1689 | Innocent XI | |
| 8 | Giambattista Rubini (1642–1707) | 6 October 1689 | 1 February 1691 | Alexander VIII | |
| 9 | Fabrizio Spada (1643–1717) | 14 July 1691 | 27 September 1700 | Innocent XII | |
| 10 | Fabrizio Paolucci (1651–1726) | 3 December 1700 | 19 March 1721 | Clement XI | |
| 11 | Giorgio Spinola (1667–1739) | 10 May 1721 | 7 March 1724 | Innocent XIII | |
| 12 (10) | Fabrizio Paolucci (1651–1726) | 6 June 1724 | 12 June 1726 † | Benedict XIII | |
| 13 | Niccolò Maria Lercari (1675–1757) | 21 June 1726 | 21 February 1730 | ||
| 14 | Antonio Banchieri (1667–1733) | 15 July 1730 | 16 September 1733 † | Clement XII | |
| 15 | Giuseppe Firrao the Elder (1670–1744) | 4 October 1733 | 6 February 1740 | ||
| 16 | Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (1690–1756) | 20 August 1740 | 28 August 1756 † | Benedict XIV | |
| 17 | Alberico Archinto (1698–1758) | 20 September 1756 | 30 September 1758 † | ||
| 18 | Ludovico Maria Torriggiani (1697–1777) | 8 October 1758 | 2 February 1769 | Clement XIII | |
| 19 | Lazzaro Opizio Pallavicini (1719–1785) | 19 May 1769 | 23 February 1785 † | Clement XIV | |
| 20 | Ignazio Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi (1743–1790) | 29 June 1785 | 30 September 1789 | Pius VI | |
| 21 | Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1717–1801) | 14 October 1789 | 10 February 1796 | ||
| 22 | Ignazio Busca (1731–1803) | 9 August 1796 | 18 March 1797 | ||
| 23 | Giuseppe Maria Doria Pamphilj (1751–1816) | 18 March 1797 | 29 August 1799 | ||
| 24 | Ercole Consalvi (1757–1824) | 11 August 1800 | 17 June 1806 | Pius VII | |
| 25 | Filippo Casoni (1733–1811) | 17 June 1806 | 2 February 1808 | ||
| 26 | Giulio Gabrielli the Younger (1748–1822) | 26 March 1808 | 26 July 1814 | ||
| 27 (24) | Ercole Consalvi (1757–1824) | 26 July 1814 | 20 August 1823 | ||
| 28 | Giulio Maria della Somaglia (1744–1830) | 28 September 1823 | 17 January 1828 | Leo XII | |
| 29 | Tommaso Bernetti (1779–1852) | 17 January 1828 | 10 February 1829 | ||
| 30 | Giuseppe Albani (1750–1834) | 31 March 1829 | 30 November 1830 | Pius VIII | |
| 31 (29) | Tommaso Bernetti (1779–1852) | 21 February 1831 | 12 January 1836 | Gregory XVI | |
| 32 | Luigi Lambruschini (1776–1854) | 12 January 1836 | 1 June 1846 | ||
| 33 | Tommaso Pasquale Gizzi (1787–1849) | 8 August 1846 | 5 July 1847 | Pius IX | |
| 34 | Gabriele Ferretti (1795–1860) | 17 July 1847 | 1 February 1848 | ||
| 35 | Giuseppe Bofondi (1795–1867) | 1 February 1848 | 10 March 1848 | ||
| 36 | Giacomo Antonelli (1806–1876) | 10 March 1848 | 4 May 1848 | ||
| 37 | Antonio Francesco Orioli (1778–1852) | 4 May 1848 | 2 June 1848 | ||
| 38 | Giovanni Soglia Ceroni (1779–1856) | 4 June 1848 | 29 November 1848 | ||
| 39 (36) | Giacomo Antonelli (1806–1876) | 29 November 1848 | 6 November 1876 † | ||
| 40 | Giovanni Simeoni (1816–1892) | 18 December 1876 | 5 March 1878 | ||
| 41 | Alessandro Franchi (1819–1878) | 5 March 1878 | 31 July 1878 † | Leo XIII | |
| 42 | Lorenzo Nina (1812–1885) | 9 August 1878 | 16 December 1880 | ||
| 43 | Luigi Jacobini (1832–1887) | 16 December 1880 | 28 February 1887 † | ||
| 44 | Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro (1843–1913) | 2 July 1887 | 20 July 1903 | ||
| 45 | Rafael Merry del Val (1865–1930) | 12 November 1903 | 20 August 1914 | Pius X | |
| 46 | Domenico Ferrata (1847–1914) | 4 September 1914 | 10 October 1914 † | Benedict XV | |
| 47 | Pietro Gasparri (1852–1934) | 13 October 1914 | 7 February 1930 | ||
| 48 | Eugenio Pacelli (later pope Pius XII[9]) (1876–1958) | 9 February 1930 | 10 February 1939 | Pius XI | |
| 49 | Luigi Maglione (1877–1944) | 10 March 1939 | 22 August 1944 † | Pius XII | |
| Office vacant[10] | |||||
| 50 | Domenico Tardini (1888–1961) | 15 December 1958 | 30 July 1961 † | John XXIII | |
| 51 | Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (1883–1973) | 12 August 1961 | 30 April 1969 | ||
| 52 | Jean-Marie Villot (1905–1979) | 2 May 1969 | 9 March 1979 † | Paul VI | |
| 53 | Agostino Casaroli (1914–1998) | 1 July 1979 | 1 December 1990 | John Paul II | |
| 54 | Angelo Sodano (1927–2022) | 29 June 1991 | 15 September 2006 | ||
| 55 | Tarcisio Bertone (b. 1934) | 15 September 2006 | 15 October 2013 | Benedict XVI | |
| 56 | Pietro Parolin (b. 1955) | 15 October 2013 | Incumbent | Francis | |
| Leo XIV | |||||
In popular culture
- Silvio Orlando portrayed fictional Cardinal Secretary of State Voiello in the 2016 Sky Italia Sky Atlantic HBO Canal+ co-produced television series The Young Pope and the 2019 follow-up series The New Pope.[11]
- Robert Harris' novel Conclave features fictional Cardinal Secretary of State Aldo Bellini. The character is played by Stanley Tucci in the film adaptation.
References
- 1."Vatican - Statements of the Secretary of State H. EM. Cardinal PIETRO PAROLIN".
- 2."Profile: The Secretariat of State". The Holy See. Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
- 3."United Nations - Protocol and Liaison Services" (PDF). 8 April 2026. Country: Holy See Head of State: His Holiness Pope Leo XIV Head of Government: His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See
- 4."The Vatican's secretary of state visits Moscow for the first time in 19 years". The Economist. 25 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- 5."Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
- 6.[6.2]"Roman Curia | Roman Catholicism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- 7.Pope Gregory XVI, Chirografo Avendoci Ella, in Italian, issued on 20 February 1833, accessed on 2 November 2024
- 8.Catholic Hierarchy
- 9."Eugenio Pacelli". www.pas.va. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
- 10.Pope Pius XII, having been the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI, did not name a Secretary after the death of Cardinal Maglione in 1944. Beneath his direct supervision, the duties were divided between two protonotaries apostolic, Domenico Tardini and Giovanni Battista Montini, who in 1952 were both named Pro-Secretary of State, for Extraordinary and Ordinary affairs respectively. In 1954 Montini (the future Pope Paul VI) was appointed Archbishop of Milan, thus leaving the Roman Curia.
- 11.Vivarelli, Nick (4 August 2015). "Paolo Sorrentino's 'Young Pope' Rounds Out Cast With James Cromwell And Slew Of Top International Talent". Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2020.