Pietro Parolin

Parolin became, at 58, the youngest Secretary of State since 1929, when Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) was appointed to the position at the age of 53.

He said: "The pope's initiatives have given the secretary of state an impetus and have also created a new diplomatic momentum."

When asked if he would be spearheading a new diplomatic offensive for peace, he noted that it was a complicated question but said, "Yes, I hope that we can recoup" that drive.

"We have this great advantage in respect to other churches, to other religions: We can count on an international institutional presence through diplomacy," he said.

On 16 December, Parolin was named to a five-year renewable term as a member of the Congregation for Bishops.

Pietro Parolin OMRI (, ; born 17 January 1955) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church.

After he was ordained on 27 April 1980, he took up graduate studies in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University and in diplomacy at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

He entered the Holy See's diplomatic service in 1986 at the age of 31.

He served for three years in the Nunciature of Nigeria where he became familiar with the problems in Christian-Muslim relations.

At the Nunciature of Mexico from 1989 to 1992, he contributed to the final phase of the work begun by Archbishop Girolamo Prigione which led to the legal recognition of the Catholic Church in 1992 and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Mexico after 130 years.

These negotiations led to Mexico officially shedding the country's secular and anti-clerical imprint, which extended to its Constitution.

Working in Rome, he was country director for Spain, Andorra, Italy, and San Marino.

Parolin was Undersecretary of State for Relations with States from 30 November 2002 to 17 August 2009.

Parolin has also been at the forefront of Vatican efforts to approve and implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

During his time as undersecretary Parolin scored some significant breakthroughs, such as cementing ties between the Holy See and Vietnam, re-establishing direct contact with Beijing in 2005 and helping secure the liberation of 15 British navy personnel captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf in April 2007.

Addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency on 18 September 2006, at its headquarters in Vienna, Parolin referred to this treaty as "the basis to pursue nuclear disarmament and an important element for further development of nuclear energy applications for peaceful purposes."

He said: "Since this treaty is the only multilateral legal instrument currently available, intended to bring about a nuclear weapons-free world, it must not be allowed to be weakened. Humanity deserves no less than the full cooperation of all states in this important matter."

Concerning international negotiations with respect to Iran's nuclear program, he said "that the present difficulties can and must be overcome through diplomatic channels, making use of all the means that diplomacy has at its disposal and considers necessary to eliminate all the elements which objectively impede mutual trust."

In September 2007 at the opening of the UN he argued that, "We often hear in the halls of the United Nations of 'the responsibility to protect'. The Holy See believes that applies also in the context of climate change. States have a shared 'responsibility to protect' the world's climate through mitigation/adaptation, and above all a shared 'responsibility to protect' our planet and ensure that present and future generations be able to live in a healthy and safe environment."

Parolin represented the Vatican in a variety of sensitive assignments, including trips to North Korea and Vietnam as well as the 2007 Annapolis Conference on the Middle East convened by the Bush administration to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

As the Vatican's "deputy foreign minister" he dealt with all the sensitive dossiers on the Holy See's relations with Vietnam (he was partly responsible for paving the way to full diplomatic relations between the two) and the legal issues between the Vatican and Israel which remain unresolved.

At the beginning of Pope Benedict's pontificate, direct contact was re-established with China.

On 17 August 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Parolin Titular Archbishop of Aquipendium and Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela.

He was consecrated a bishop on 12 September 2009 by Benedict XVI, with Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone and William Cardinal Levada as co-consecrators.

The Venezuela assignment was expected to be difficult, since conflicts between the State and the Church in Venezuela were on the rise as President Hugo Chávez attempted to advance his socialist revolution.

On 31 August 2013, Pope Francis appointed Parolin Secretary of State, replacing Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Parolin took office on 15 October.

A cardinal since February 2014, he has served as the Vatican's Secretary of State since October 2013 and a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers since July 2014.

Before that, he worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for thirty years, where his assignments included terms in Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela, as well as more than six years as Undersecretary of State for Relations with States.

He speaks fluent Italian, English and French, and near-native Spanish.

Parolin was born in Schiavon, Province of Vicenza, the son of a hardware store manager and an elementary school teacher.

He has one sister and a brother.

When he was ten years old, his father died in a car accident.

On 19 February 2014 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Parolin was made Cardinal-Priest of Santi Simone e Giuda Taddeo a Torre Angela at a papal general consistory on 22 February 2014.

He attended meetings of the Council of Cardinal Advisers on a regular basis and in July 2014 became the council's ninth member.

In 2014 Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro invited Cardinal Parolin to mediate talks between his government and opposition in hopes of stemming violence that has killed dozens in the nation's worst unrest in a decade.

He asked that Parolin, a former nuncio to Venezuela, be named a "good faith witness" to a dialogue the parties had agreed upon after two months of protests.

Venezuela's opposition coalition had indicated that current nuncio, Archbishop Aldo Giordano, would be attending the first formal talks.

Henrique Capriles, the opposition's two-time presidential candidate who narrowly lost an election to Maduro the year before, confirmed he would take part in the discussions.