Gugerotti Claudio

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti was born in Verona, Italy, on 7 October 1955. After completing studies in Oriental Languages and Literatures at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, he entered the Pious Society of Don Nicola Mazza and was ordained a priest in 1982. He obtained a Licentiate in Liturgy from the Institute of Pastoral Liturgy in Padua and a Doctorate in Eastern Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

A distinguished scholar of the Eastern Churches, he has carried out extensive academic and teaching activities at numerous ecclesiastical and university institutions, including the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Oriental Institute. He is proficient in several ancient and modern languages and has devoted particular attention to the liturgical and spiritual traditions of the Christian East.
In 1985 he entered the service of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, where he served as Undersecretary beginning in 1997. In 2001 he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Ravello and, in 2002, received episcopal ordination from Saint John Paul II.
He served as Apostolic Nuncio to Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; to Belarus; to Ukraine; and to Great Britain. During his mission in Ukraine, he coordinated the humanitarian initiative “The Pope for Ukraine,” promoted by Pope Francis.
On 21 November 2022, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. At the Consistory of 30 September 2023, the Holy Father created him Cardinal Deacon of Sant’Ambrogio della Massima.

He is a member of several Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.
The author of numerous studies, essays, and publications dedicated to the Eastern Churches, liturgy, and ecumenical dialogue, Cardinal Gugerotti is an Honorary Academician of the Academy of Agriculture, Sciences and Letters of Verona and an Academician in re orientali of the Ambrosian Academy in Milan.