Leonardo Sandri was born in Buenos Aires on 18 November 1943 to Italian parents. Ordained a priest on 2 December 1967, he took a doctorate in canon law at the Gregorian and entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1971. His diplomatic postings took him to Madagascar (1974), the Secretariat of State (1977–1989), the Washington nunciature with the OAS (1989–1991), then back to Rome as regent of the Papal Household (1991) and assessor for General Affairs (1992).
In 1997 he became titular Archbishop of Cittanova and nuncio to Venezuela — the first Argentine nuncio — then nuncio to Mexico in 2000, returning to Rome that year as Substitute of the Secretariat of State, John Paul II's chief of staff. In the Pope's final years Sandri read the texts the Pope could no longer deliver himself; on the evening of 2 April 2005 it was Sandri who announced John Paul II's death to St Peter's Square. On 9 June 2007 Benedict XVI made him Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches (until 2022), and created him a cardinal on 24 November 2007, with the deaconry of Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari. He voted in the 2013 conclave, was elevated to cardinal-bishop in 2018, and on 18 January 2020 became Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals.
Major Works & Initiatives
Prefect of the Eastern Churches
Fifteen years overseeing the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Substitute of the Secretariat of State
The Curia's chief of staff through John Paul II's last years.
The announcement
Announced the death of John Paul II to the world.
Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals
Second-in-rank among the world's cardinals.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.