The 91-year-old Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re is charged with Pope Francis' funeral Mass on Saturday morning, April 26, 2025, in St. Peter's Square. This role falls to him as Dean of the College of Cardinals, a position assigned to an experienced figure in the Roman Curia and corresponding to a form of presidency of the College of Cardinals.
On February 6, a few days before his hospitalization, Pope Francis renewed Cardinal Re's term as dean for five years, a position he had received in 2020. A figure embodying continuity between pontificates, he can be considered one of the last “men of John Paul II” still active in the Roman Curia.
Giovanni Battista Re, born on January 30, 1934, in northern Italy, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Brescia in 1957. He has enjoyed an exceptionally long career in the institutions of the Holy See, spanning 62 years: He joined the papal diplomatic service in 1963, working at the apostolic nunciature in Panama and then in Iran.
He went on to become one of the key figures of the pontificate of John Paul II, first as assessor for general affairs of the Secretariat of State from 1979 to 1987, then as secretary of the Congregation for Bishops from 1987 to 1989 — receiving episcopal ordination in this capacity — and above all as substitute for the Secretariat of State from 1989 to 2000. This position corresponds to those of chief of staff and interior minister to the pope.
A central role in preparing the conclave
From 2000 to 2010, he served as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, straddling the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In this capacity, he was elevated to the rank of cardinal by the Polish pontiff during the 2001 consistory, along with Monsignor Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
During the 2013 conclave, Cardinal Re exercised the prerogatives of the dean, as neither the dean nor the vice-dean – Cardinals Angelo Sodano and Roger Etchegaray – were cardinal electors due to their age.
Although he lost his prerogatives as a cardinal elector on his 80th birthday, January 30, 2014, he now plays a central role in the general congregations preparing for the future conclave.
However, for the conclave itself, it is the most senior cardinal-bishop who is still eligible to vote who will assume the duties of the dean: to date, this is Cardinal Pietro Parolin, former Secretary of State of the Holy See since the death of Pope Francis, an event that suspended his office de facto.
