Cardinal Secretary of State

The Secretary of State of His Holiness (Italian: Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità), commonly known as the Cardinal Secretary of State, is in charge over the Holy See's Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia.^[1] The Secretariat of State is seen as the prime minister of the Holy See.^[2]

Secretary of State of His Holiness Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità
Coat of arms of the Holy See
Incumbent Pietro Parolin since 15 October 2013
Secretariat of State
Style	His Eminence
Type	Head of government
Member of	Roman Curia Council of Cardinals
Reports to	The Pope
Appointer	The Pope
Term length	Appointment of a new Pope
Formation	20 November 1551
First holder	Girolamo Dandini
Unofficial names	Cardinal Secretary of State

The Secretary of State is currently Cardinal Pietro Parolin.^[3]

List

Secretaries of State between 1551 and 1644

• Girolamo Dandini (1551–1555)
• Carlo Borromeo (1560–1565)
• Tolomeo Gallio (1565–1566)
• Girolamo Rusticucci (1566–1572)
• Tolomeo Gallio (again) (1572–1585)
• Decio Azzolini (seniore) (1585–1587)
• Alessandro Peretti di Montalto (Cardinal-Nephew) (1587–1590)
• Paolo Emilio Sfondrati (Cardinal-Nephew) (1591)
• Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti de Nuce (Cardinal-Nephew) (1591)
• Pierbenedetto Peretti (1592–1593)
• Pietro Aldobrandini (Cardinal-Nephew) and Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini (Cardinal-Nephew) (1593–1605)
• Roberto Ubaldini (1605)
• Erminio Valenti (1605)
• Lanfranco Margotti (1605–1611)
• Porifrio Feliciani (1611–1621)
• Giovanni Battista Agucchi (1621–1623)
• Lorenzo Magalotti (1623–1628)
• Lorenzo Azzolini (1628–1632)
• Pietro Benessa (1632–1634)
• Francesco Adriano Ceva (1634–1643)
• Giovanni Battista Spada (1643–1644)

Cardinal Secretaries of State since 1644

1. Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli (1644–1651)
2. Fabio Chigi (1651–1655); then elected Pope Alexander VII (1655–1667)
3. Giulio Rospigliosi (1655–1667); then elected Pope Clement IX (1667–1669)
4. Decio Azzolini (iuniore) (1667–1669)
5. Federico Borromeo (iuniore) (1670–1673)
6. Francesco Nerli (iuniore) (1673–1676)
7. Alderano Cybo (1676–1689)
8. Giambattista Rubini (1689–1691)
9. Fabrizio Spada (1691–1700)
10. Fabrizio Paolucci (1700–1721) (first time)
11. Giorgio Spinola (1721–1724)
12. Fabrizio Paolucci (1724–1726) (second time)
13. Niccolò Maria Lercari (1726–1730)
14. Antonio Banchieri (1730–1733)
15. Giuseppe Firrao, Sr. (1733–1740)
16. Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (1740–1756)
17. Alberico Archinto (1756–1758)
18. Ludovico Maria Torriggiani (1758–1769)
19. Lazzaro Opizio Pallavicini (1769–1785)
20. Ignazio Boncompagni Ludovisi (1785–1789)
21. Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1789–1796)
22. Ignazio Busca (1796–1797)
23. Giuseppe Doria Pamphili (1797–1799)
24. Ercole Consalvi, pro-secretary (1800); secretary (1800–1806)
25. Filippo Casoni (1806–1808)
26. Giulio Gabrielli the Younger (1808–1814) -Giuseppe Doria Pamphilj, pro-secretary (1808) -Bartolomeo Pacca, pro-secretary (1808–1814)
27. Ercole Consalvi (1814–1823)
28. Giulio Maria della Somaglia (28 September 1823 – 17 January 1828)
29. Tommaso Bernetti, pro-secretary (17 June 1828 – 10 February 1829) (first time)
30. Giuseppe Albani (31 March 1829 – 30 November 1830)
31. Tommaso Bernetti, pro-secretary (21 February – 10 August 1831); cardinal secretary (10 August 1831 – 12 January 1836) (second time)
32. Luigi Lambruschini (12 January 1836 – 1 June 1846)
33. Tommaso Pasquale Gizzi (8 August 1846 – 5 July 1847)
34. Gabriele Ferretti (17 July 1847 – 31 December 1848)
35. Giuseppe Bofondi (1 February – 10 March 1848)
36. Giacomo Antonelli (10 March – 3 May 1848) (first time)
37. Anton Orioli (5 May – 4 June 1848), cardinal secretary ad interim
38. Giovanni Soglia Ceroni (4 June – 29 November 1848)
39. Giacomo Antonelli (29 November 1848 – 6 November 1876) (second time)
40. Giovanni Simeoni (18 December 1876 – 7 February 1878)
41. Alessandro Franchi (5 March - 31 July 1878)
42. Lorenzo Nina (9 August 1878 – 16 December 1880)
43. Luigi Jacobini (16 December 1880 – 28 February 1887)
44. Mariano Rampolla (2 June 1887 – 20 July 1903)
45. Rafael Merry del Val (12 November 1903 – 20 August 1914)
46. Domenico Ferrata (4 September – 10 October 1914)
47. Pietro Gasparri (13 October 1914 – 7 February 1930)
48. Eugenio Pacelli (9 February 1930 – 10 February 1939) then elected Pope Pius XII
49. Luigi Maglione (10 March 1939 – 22 August 1944)
50. Domenico Tardini (15 December 1958 – 30 July 1961)^[4]
51. Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (12 August 1961 – 30 April 1969)
52. Jean-Marie Villot (2 May 1969 – 9 March 1979)
53. Agostino Casaroli (1 July 1979 – 1 December 1990)
54. Angelo Sodano (29 June 1991 – 22 June 2006)
55. Tarcisio Bertone (15 September 2006 – 15 October 2013)
56. Pietro Parolin (since 15 October 2013)

References

1. "Profile: The Secretariat of State". The Holy See. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
2. "The Vatican's secretary of state visits Moscow for the first time in 19 years". The Economist. 25 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
3. "DICHIARAZIONE DI S.E. MONS. PIETRO PAROLIN IN OCCASIONE DELLA SUA NOMINA A SEGRETARIO DI STATO" [DECLARATION OF H.E. Mgr. PIETRO PAROLIN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS APPOINTMENT AS SECRETARY OF STATE]. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
4. Pope Pius XII, having been the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI, did not name a Secretary after the death of Cardinal Maglione in 1944. Beneath his direct supervision, the duties were divided between two protonotary apostolic, Domenico Tardini and Giovanni Battista Montini, who in 1952 were both named Pro-Secretary of State, for Extraordinary and Ordinary affairs respectively. In 1954 Montini (the future Pope Paul VI) left the Roman Curia to become Archbishop of Milan, but only under Pope John XXIII was Tardini named a Cardinal and full Secretary.