Agostino Marchetto was born in Vicenza on 28 August 1940 and ordained a priest there on 28 June 1964. He entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1964 and the Holy See's diplomatic service in 1968, serving in Zambia, Cuba, Algeria, Portugal, and Mozambique. On 31 August 1985 he was appointed titular Archbishop of Écija and pro-nuncio to Madagascar and Mauritius (consecrated 1 November by Cardinal Baggio); he later served as nuncio to Tanzania (1990), Belarus (1994), the Secretariat of State (1999), and as Permanent Observer to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
On 6 November 2001 John Paul II appointed him secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People; he retired early, in 2010, to devote himself to study — above all, the hermeneutics of the Second Vatican Council. He has become the principal scholarly defender of the Council's continuity, and Pope Francis calls him “the greatest expert in hermeneutics” of Vatican II. He lived in sixteen countries and speaks six languages. Francis created him a cardinal on 30 September 2023, with the deaconry of Santa Maria Goretti — at 83, a non-elector honoured for scholarship. His motto is In patientia cum gaudio — “in patience with joy.”
Consequential Quotes
We, the men of the Church, have always said that there is a hospitality/security relationship, but in many places efforts and money go more in the line of security than of hospitality.
Major Works & Initiatives
Secretary of the migrants' council
Led the Church's ministry to migrants, refugees, and seafarers.
The Vatican II historian
The Pope's “greatest expert” on the Council's hermeneutics.
Thirty years a diplomat
Five nunciatures, the UN food agencies, sixteen countries.
Controversies
The mistranslated Roma remarks (2010)
Marchetto's criticism of France's 2010 expulsion of Roma was mangled in translation, briefly making him — rather than the policy — the story. Zenit reported the episode as a translation controversy.