Agostino Vallini was born in Poli, near Rome, on 17 April 1940, though his family moved to Barra, near Naples, in his childhood. Ordained a priest for Naples on 19 July 1964 by Bishop Longo, he took a licentiate in theology and a doctorate in utroque iure — both canon and civil law — at the Lateran, then taught ecclesiastical public law at the Lateran and canon law in Naples, becoming rector of Naples's major seminary in 1978.
Appointed auxiliary bishop of Naples and titular Bishop of Tortibulum on 23 March 1989 (consecrated 13 May by Cardinal Giordano), he became Bishop of Albano in November 1999. On 27 May 2004 he was appointed Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura — the Church's supreme court, the highest judicial authority beneath the Pope. Benedict XVI created him a cardinal on 24 March 2006, with the deaconry of San Pier Damiani ai Monti di San Paolo, and on 27 June 2008 named him Vicar General of Rome, Archpriest of the Lateran Basilica, and Grand Chancellor of the Lateran University — succeeding Cardinal Ruini as the Pope's deputy for the diocese of Rome. He served until 26 May 2017, voted in the 2013 conclave, and from 2017 to 2025 was papal legate for the basilicas of Assisi. His motto is Sequere me — “follow me.”
Major Works & Initiatives
Vicar General of Rome
Nine years as the Pope's deputy for the diocese of Rome.
Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura
Led the Church's supreme tribunal.
Papal legate for Assisi
Custodian of St Francis's basilicas.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.