Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will become the Holy See's new Secretary of State as of September 15.  The Pope's decision was announced today.  Benedict XVI has thus chosen for the role of his principal collaborator the man who for 8 years, from 1995 to 2002, had been Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which the then Cardinal Ratzinger had been Prefect.  Thus the duo that had lead the Vatican's doctrinal dicastery through long and difficult times is back together again.

Cardinal Bertone, age 72, currently Archbishop of Genoa, will thus take the place of Cardinal Angelo Sodano whom the Pope has said will continue in his current office until September 15.  At the age of 79, Cardinal Sodano will then leave the role of the Pope's principal collaborator to which he had been appointed 15 years ago, on June 29, 1991, but will remain Dean of the College of Cardinals.

As had been expected and speculated for some time, the appointing of Cardinal Bertone, whose experience includes teaching as a law professor and writing, brings a "pastor" to the helm of the Secretary of State, considering that, even prior to his time in Genoa, he had already been Bishop of Vercelli (Italy), from 1991 to 1995, a fact which points out an initial difference with respect to his predecessors, given that neither Cardinal Sodano, nor Cardinal Agostino Casaroli before him, had had experience as a diocesan leader, and which confirms the "pastoral" shape that the current Pope is giving to the Curia.

Another distinctive and unusual point is the fact that Cardinal Bertone is a religious, a Salesian, which also sets him apart from his predecessors.

The appointment of the Vatican Curia's top official thus comes just over a year from Benedict XVI's election. At that time, the new Pope, who had over 20 years of experience with the Roman Curia, confirmed all the heads of the various dicasteries, maintaining the configuration left by John Paul II.  It had been widely held however that Benedict XVI wanted to take a year to decide the set up of "his" Curia.

Along with the announcement of Cardinal Bertone as the next Secretary of State, it was also announced today that Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, current Secretary for Relations with States, will be the future President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State and President of the city-state's Governatorato, substituting Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka.  This appointment too will take effect on September 15.

Cardinal Bertone was born in Romano Canavese (province of Turin, diocese of Ivrea) on December 2, 1934, the fifth of 8 children.  He went directly from the Salesian middle school of Valdocco to the noviciate at Monte Oliveto in Pinerolo (northern Italy).  He made his first religious profession on December 3, 1950, and was ordained as a priest on July 1, 1960.  After earning a licentiate degree in Theology at the Salesian Faculty of Theology in Turin, he continued his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Salesian Institute, where he earned a licentiate and doctorate in Canon Law.  In 1967, he was called to Rome to take up the special Moral Theology chair at the Salesian Institute, which later became the Pontifical Salesian University (1973), where he taught for 10 years, becoming dean in 1989.  He also taught Canon Law and directed the Faculty of Canon Law.  From 1978, he taught Ecclesiastic Public Law at the Institutum Utriusque Iuris of the Pontifical Lateran University.

He has authored various publications and worked on the final revision of the Code of Canon Law.

He acted as consultor in various Vatican congregations, became Bishop of Vercelli, and later returned to Rome as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  In this latter role, he dealt with various delicate matters, including an "interview" of Sr Lucia, to clarify the question of the completeness of the publication of the Fatima revelations, as well as the matter concerning healer-Archbishop Milingo who had adhered to the sect of the Reverend Moon. (FP)