” “Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, new Secretary of State, Salesian, was born in Romano Canavese, in the diocese of Ivrea, on December 1st 1934, the fifth of eight children. Attracted by the Salesian calling, he issued his first religious profession on December 3rd 1950. He was ordained presbyter on July 1st 1960 and raised to the archbishop’s see of Vercelli on June 4th 1991. He was ordained bishop on August 1st 1991. On June 13th 1995, he was appointed by John Paul II secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In such a capacity, he assisted card. Ratzinger in the promotion of the doctrine of the faith and the Christian moral project, giving his contribution to such documents as the Declaration Dominus Iesus, The primacy of the successor of Peter in the mystery of the Church, Doctrinal note on some issues concerning the commitment and behaviour of Catholics in political life. On December 10th 2002, he was called to be the archbishop of Genoa. At the consistory of October 21st 2003, he was made cardinal. At present, he had the following offices: president of the Bishops Conference of the region Liguria, member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, member of the Congregation for the Cult of God and the Discipline of Sacraments and member of the Congregation for the Clergy. Card. Bertone has worked as a university lecturer on many an occasion, in Canon and Church Law, International and Children Law, and has published several scientific and popular articles on topical church subjects, also resulting from his intensive work as a public lecturer.
