Giuseppe Bertello

Giuseppe Bertello was born in Foglizzo, near Turin, on 1 October 1942, and ordained a priest on 29 June 1966. With a licentiate in pastoral theology and a doctorate in canon law, he entered the Holy See's diplomatic service in 1971, serving in Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela, and at the UN mission in Geneva. In 1987 he led the Holy See's observer delegation to the Non-Aligned foreign ministers' conference in Pyongyang — becoming the first Catholic priest to visit North Korea's small, isolated Catholic community since the Korean War.

Consecrated titular Archbishop of Urbisaglia on 28 November 1987, he was pro-nuncio to Ghana, Togo, and Benin, then nuncio to Rwanda (January 1991) through the most acute phase of the civil war, Permanent Observer to the UN in Geneva (1995) and the WTO (1997), nuncio to Mexico (2000, welcoming John Paul II in 2002), and nuncio to Italy (2007). On 3 September 2011 Benedict XVI made him President of the Governorate and of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State — effectively the city-state's prime minister — a post he held until 1 October 2021. Benedict created him a cardinal on 18 February 2012, with the deaconry of Santi Vito, Modesto e Crescenzia; in 2013 Francis named him to the original Council of Cardinals. His motto is Narrabo nomen tuum — “I will tell your name to my brothers.”