Justin Rigali

Justin Francis Rigali was born in Los Angeles on 19 April 1935, the youngest of seven children, and ordained a priest on 25 April 1961 by Cardinal McIntyre. With a doctorate in canon law from the Gregorian (1964), he directed the English section of the Secretariat of State and served as English translator to Pope Paul VI. Appointed President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and titular archbishop in June 1985 (consecrated by John Paul II on 14 September), he became Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops (1989) and of the College of Cardinals (1990), then Archbishop of St Louis in January 1994 — hosting John Paul II's 1999 visit — and Archbishop of Philadelphia in July 2003.

John Paul II created him a cardinal on 21 October 2003, with the title of Santa Prisca. In Philadelphia the abuse crisis defined his tenure: a 2005 grand jury documented cover-ups (Rigali responded that there were “no priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation”), a second grand jury in early 2011 found continuing negligence, and in March 2011 he suspended 21 priests in a single day. Francis's predecessor accepted his resignation on 19 July 2011. He chaired the US bishops' pro-life committee and pioneered bishops' use of YouTube and Facebook. His motto is Verbum caro factum est — “the Word became flesh.”