Claudio Gugerotti

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, was born in Verona on October 7, 1955. He joined the Pious Society of Don Nicola Mazza and was ordained a priest on May 29, 1982.

He earned a licentiate in Oriental Languages and Literature from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, as well as a licentiate in Liturgy from the Pontifical University of St. Anselm and a doctorate in Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Oriental Institute. As a professor, he taught at the universities of Venice, Padua, and Rome, as well as at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Oriental Institute. He joined the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in 1985 and served as its Undersecretary in 1997. Appointed Titular Archbishop of Ravello on December 7, 2001, and consecrated on January 6, 2002, he served as Apostolic Nuncio in countries with an Eastern Christian tradition: from 2002 in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; in 2011, Benedict XVI sent him to Belarus; Pope Francis sent him as Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine from 2015 to 2020 (the country with the largest number of Eastern Rite Catholics), and then to Great Britain.

Since November 21, 2022, he has been Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

He was created and proclaimed a cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of September 30, 2023, in the Diaconate of St. Ambrose of the Massima.

He is a Member of: 

  • del Dicastero per l’Evangelizzazione, Sezione per le questioni fondamentali dell’evangelizzazione nel mondo e Sezione per la prima evangelizzazione e le nuove Chiese particolari;
  • del Dicastero per la Dottrina della Fede; 
  • del Dicastero per i Vescovi; 
  • del Dicastero per la Promozione dell’Unità dei Cristiani;
  • del Dicastero per il Dialogo Interreligioso; 
  • del Dicastero per la Cultura e l’Educazione; 
  • del Dicastero per i Testi Legislativi;
  • della Pontificia Commissione per lo Stato della Città del Vaticano;
  • del Consiglio della Sezione per i Rapporti con gli Stati e le Organizzazioni Internazionali della Segreteria di Stato.