Crescenzio Sepe was born in Carinaro, near Caserta, on 2 June 1943. Ordained for the Diocese of Aversa on 12 March 1967, he earned degrees in theology and canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University and philosophy at Rome's La Sapienza, then entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1969. Posted to the nunciature in Brazil (1972–75), he was recalled to the Secretariat of State, becoming Assessor for General Affairs in 1987. In 1992 he was made titular Archbishop of Grado and secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy (consecrated by John Paul II on 26 April 1992), and in 1997 general secretary of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
On 9 April 2001 he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples — the missions dicastery — and St John Paul II created him a cardinal on 21 February 2001, with the title of Dio Padre Misericordioso. On 20 May 2006 he was appointed Archbishop of Naples, serving until 12 December 2020; there he opened the cathedral to immigrants and the homeless for New Year's Eve lunches. He voted in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013. His motto is In nomine Domini.
Major Works & Initiatives
Prefect of the Evangelization of Peoples
Led the Church's missions congregation at the turn of the millennium.
The Great Jubilee
General secretary of the Central Committee organizing Jubilee 2000.
Archbishop of Naples
Fourteen years in Italy's largest southern see.
Controversies
The 2010 building-sale allegations
In 2010 Italian media reported allegations of impropriety around the sale of a Vatican-owned building at a below-market price, naming Sepe; he denied wrongdoing. The outcome of any inquiry could not be verified.