His Eminence Antonio Maria Vegliò
President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
Appointed	28 February 2009
Predecessor	Renato Raffaele Martino
Other posts	Cardinal-Deacon of San Cesareo in Palatio
Orders
Ordination	18 March 1962 by Luigi Carlo Borromeo
Consecration	6 October 1985 by Agostino Casaroli
Created Cardinal	18 February 2012
Rank	Cardinal-Deacon of San Cesareo in Palatio
Personal details
Birth name	Antonio Maria Vegliò
Born	(1938-02-03) 3 February 1938 (age 75) Macerata Feltria
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Papua New Guinea (1985–1989) Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Solomon Islands (1985–1989) Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Sénégal (1989–1997) Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Guinea-Bissau (1989–1997) Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Cape Verde (1989–1997) Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Mali (1989–1997) Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon (1997–2001) Apostolic Nuncio to Kuwait (1997–1999) Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches (2001–2009)
Coat of arms

Styles of Antonio Veglio
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Antonio Maria Vegliò (born 3 February 1938) is an Italian Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, who has served as Vatican diplomat and in the Roman Curia. He is currently President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants. Vegliò was created a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 February 2012.

Early life and ordination [edit]

Born in Macerata Feltria, Italy, he was ordained a priest for the diocese of Pesaro in 1962. He was summoned to Rome where he attended the elite Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy where he studied diplomacy. Besides his native Italian, he speaks English, French and Spanish.

Nuncio [edit]

He was appointed Titular Archbishop of Eclano in 1985 on was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. In 1989, Vegliò was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Mali and promoted to full Apostolic Nuncio in 1994. He served as Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon and Kuwait from 1997 to 1999.

Curial work [edit]

In 2001, Archbishop Vegliò became Secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Oriental Churches and, in 2009, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.^[1]

It was announced on 6 January 2012 that Archbishop Vegliò would be included in a list of 21 other names to be created cardinal on 18 February. Thus, on that day he was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Deacon of San Cesareo in Palatio. This was the same titular church held by the future John Paul II, during his time as cardinal-archbishop of Kraków. On 21 April 2012 Cardinal Vegliò was named, for the usual five-year period,^[2] a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for the Laity.^[3]

In 2009, he organised the first European meeting of the pastoral care of the streets (drug users, street women, children, the homeless. He has intervened several times in the public debate in support of the rights of migrants, refugees, immigrants, displaced persons, or other persons disadvantaged because of their status in mobility. He has spoken out against piracy infesting the seas and has launched a campaign of solidarity with seafarers and their families affected by the tsunami in Japan.

Views [edit]

Rights of migrants [edit]

In August 2009, he lamented the deaths of more than 70 Eritreans trying to reach Italy in a boat and implicitly criticized the Berlusconi government's tough new policies on immigration.^[4]

Swiss ban on minarets [edit]

Vegliò declared that the popular vote held in Switzerland against the construction of additional minarets was a heavy blow for religious freedom and integration in that country.^[5] His colleague Agostino Marchetto expressed a somewhat different view, arguing that the Swiss vote did not compromise religious freedom.^[6]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Catholic-Hierarchy.org