• Italian.

• See of Genoa.

Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., December 2, 1934, Romano Canavese, diocese of Ivrea, Italy. He was the fifth of eight children. Education. Entered the Society of St Francis of Sales of St. John Bosco (Salesians). Oratorio di Valdocco, Turin (middle studies); Salesian novitiate of Monte Oliveto, Pinerolo; religious profession, December 3, 1950. Salesian Theological Faculty, Turin (licentiate in theology with a dissertation on tolerance and religious freedom); Pontifical Salesian Athenaeum, Rome (licentiate in theology; doctorate in canon law; dissertation: Il governo della Chiesa nel pensiero di Benedetto XIV - Papa Lambertini (1740-1758). Priesthood. Ordained, July 1, 1960, Ivrea, by Albino Mensa, bishop of Ivrea. Further studies in Turin and Rome. Professor of Special Moral Theology, Pontifical Salesian Athenaeum (became Pontifical Salesian University in 1973), Rome, 1967; professor of canon law, 1976-1991. In the community of Pontifical Salesian University of Rome, director of theologians, 1974-1976; dean of the Faculty of Canon Law, 1979-1985; vice-rector, 1987-1989. Guest professor of Public Ecclesiastical Law at the Institute Utriusque Iuris of the Pontifical Lateran University, 1978. Pastoral work in several Roma parishes and in the promotion of the laity in the Centers of Theological and Apostolic Formation, especially with intervention on subjects of social morality and the relation between faith and politics. Collaborated in the final phase of the revision of the Code of Canon Law and promoted it reception in the local churches. Directed the work group that translated the Code into Italian for the Italian Episcopal Conference and visited a hundred of Italian and foreign dioceses to present the "grand discipline of the Church". Since the 1980s, consultor in several dicasteries of the Roman Curia, especially in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in matters theologico-juridical. Rettore Magnifico of the Pontifical Salesian University, Rome, June 1, 1989. Episcopate. Elected archbishop of Vercelli, June 4, 1991. Consecrated, August 1, 1991, Vercelli, by Albino Mensa, archbishop emeritus of Vercelli. Resigned pastoral government of the archdiocese, June 13, 1995. Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 13, 1995. Charged by Pope John Paul with the care of the publication of the third part of the "secret" of Fatima. Transferred to the metropolitan see of Genoa, December 10, 2002. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of October 21, 2003.