Mauro Piacenza was born in Genoa on 15 September 1944. Ordained a priest on 21 December 1969 by Cardinal Siri, he took a doctorate summa cum laude in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University and served the archdiocese of Genoa for over twenty years — as parish vicar, university chaplain, teacher, and press officer — before joining the Roman Curia in 1990.
He rose through the Congregation for the Clergy (undersecretary 2000), led the Pontifical Commissions for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and for Sacred Archaeology (2003–07; consecrated bishop 15 November 2003), became secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2007, and was its prefect from 7 October 2010 to 21 September 2013. Benedict XVI, who reportedly valued “his efficiency and in-depth knowledge” and “his traditionalist ecclesiastical line of thought,” created him a cardinal on 20 November 2010, with the title of San Paolo alle Tre Fontane. One of Francis's first appointments was to name him Major Penitentiary — head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Church's “tribunal of mercy” for conscience cases — a post he held from 2013 to April 2024. He voted in the 2013 conclave and turned 80 in September 2024. He now presides over the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need.
Consequential Quotes
The horrible sins of a few do not delegitimize the good actions of many, nor do they change the nature of the Church.
Religious freedom is the founding core of all freedom, of all freedoms, because it touches conscience. Freedom of conscience is the freedom inherently linked to the dignity of every human being.
Major Works & Initiatives
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
The worldwide reform of diocesan priestly formation.
Major Penitentiary
A decade heading the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Church's tribunal of conscience.
President of Aid to the Church in Need
The pontifical foundation for persecuted Christians.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.