Cardinal Secretary of State
The Cardinal Secretary of State, Secretary of State officially His Holiness the Secretariat of State of the Holy See is facing, which is the most important department of the Roman Curia and is therefore in principle also guided by a cardinal, which is why the term Cardinal Secretary of State has prevailed in German. If the office of Cardinal Secretary of State is vacant, is sometimes also (temporarily) a Pro- Secretary of State ( the Cardinal still is not ) appointed by the Pope.
The Cardinal Secretary of State is primarily responsible for the political and diplomatic activities of the Holy See, which is why it is informally referred to as number two of the Vatican.
The term ends either by the dismissal by the Pope, the acceptance of the resignation or automatically with the entry of a see is vacant. After the end it is up to the newly elected Pope to confirm the former Cardinal Secretary of State again in his office. In so far three cases ( 1655, 1667 and 1939) a cardinal secretary of state was elected Pope.
Current incumbent is the Vatican diplomat Pietro Parolin.
List of Cardinal Secretaries of State
- Silvio Valenti ( to 1605 )
- Scipione Caffarelli Borghese as Kardinalnepot (1605-1621)
- Ludovico Ludovisi as Kardinalnepot (1621-1623)
- Lorenzo Magalotti first secretary of state next to a Kardinalnepoten (1624-1628)
- Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli (1644-1651)
- Fabio Chigi, later Pope Alexander VII (1651-1655)
- Giulio Rospigliosi, who later became Pope Clement IX. (1655-1667)
- Decio Azzolino the Younger (1667-1669)
- Federico Borromeo the Younger (1670-1673)
- Francesco Nerli (1673-1676)
- Alderano Cibo (1676-1689)
- Giambattista Rubini (1689-1691), nephew of Pope Alexander VIII
- Fabrizio Spada (1691-1700)
- Fabrizio Paolucci (1700-1721)
- Giorgio Spinola (1721-1724)
- Fabrizio Paolucci (1724-1726) (2nd term )
- Niccolo Maria Lercari (1726-1730)
- Antonio Banchieri (1730-1733)
- Giuseppe Firrao (1733-1740)
- Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (1740-1756)
- Alberico Archinto (1756-1758)
- Ludovico Maria Torriggiani (1758-1769)
- Lazzaro Pallavicini Opizio (1769-1785)
- Ignazio Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi - (1785-1789)
- Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1789-1796)
- Ignazio Busca (1796-1797)
- Giuseppe Doria Pamphili (1797-1799)
- Ercole Consalvi, Pro - Secretary of State (1800 ); Cardinal Secretary of State (1800-1806)
- Filippo Casoni (1806-1808)
- Giulio Gabrielli (1808-1814) Giuseppe Doria Pamphili, Prosekretär (1808 )
- Bartolomeo Pacca, Pro - Secretary of State (1808-1814)
- Domenico Tardini Pro- Secretary of State for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1952-1958)
- Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI. , Pro - Secretary of State for Ordinary Affairs (1952-1954)