New archpriest of St. Mary Major has inspiring background

Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas has succeeded Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko as archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Vatican announced on July 4, 2025. The young Lithuanian cardinal is one of the figures in the Roman Curia who enjoyed a discreet but decisive closeness with Pope Francis, who is buried in the basilica of which he is now in charge.

As expected, Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko retired on his 80th birthday. The Polish prelate is succeeded by Cardinal Makrickas, 53, who had been coadjutor archpriest of Saint Mary Major since 2024 and had in fact been administering the Roman basilica since 2021.

This Lithuanian comes from a background far removed from Vatican affairs: he was born in 1972 in a country then under Soviet rule. The parish where he was born was nationalized and turned into a maternity hospital. His parents, although Catholic, lived their faith very discreetly to avoid persecution. The example of courageous priests is what marked him in his youth.

The young man began to truly live his faith after his country's liberation in 1991, when he participated in youth camps organized by the Catholic Church. That period, marked by a spirit of freedom and experimentation, had a profound impact on him. But at the time, he was a student and so passionate about aviation that he piloted gliders and considered a career in aeronautics.

He eventually chose the seminary after discussing it with an older cousin who had become a priest. The rest of his family was very surprised, but accepted his decision easily, he believes, because his older brothers were already married. He then entered the seminary in Kaunas, the country's second largest city, and began his training.

At the time, the seminary attracted many vocations. With financial support from the US Episcopal Conference, the diocese decided to send him to Rome in 1991 as part of a group of students. The situation in Lithuania was tense in those first months of freedom, with an attempted coup d'état. His departure from the country was particularly difficult, as the seminarian felt as if he were abandoning his homeland during a time of need. But when he arrived in Venice, he learned that the coup had failed and he joined Rome with a more peaceful mind.

It was in the Italian capital that he received his Lithuanian passport for the first time, having been born a citizen of the USSR. And every time he returned to his country, he marveled at how Lithuania was emerging from this dark period.

He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Panevėžys before serving there for five years in a parish. During this period, he was also responsible for the national organization of the Jubilee of 2000 and continued his studies, obtaining a doctorate in Church history in 2004.

In the meantime, he was sent back to Rome to join the Ecclesiastical Academy, the school for nuncios, where he studied from 2003 to 2006. Having become a member of the papal diplomatic corps, he was sent to the papal representations in Bolivia, then to Georgia, where he witnessed the Russian-Georgian war, and finally to Sweden.

From 2013 to 2017, Father Makrickas served in the American nunciature, where he welcomed Pope Francis. In 2017, he was appointed chargé d'affaires at the nunciature in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

However, Father Makrickas did not become nuncio. Instead, two years later, in 2019, he was recalled to Rome by Pope Francis, who elevated him to the rank of Prelate of Honor of His Holiness and entrusted him with a particularly delicate task: the direction of the Administrative Office of the Secretariat of State.

This body, responsible for economic affairs within the First Section, found itself at the center of a major financial scandal, the so-called “London building affair.” A lengthy investigation and Vatican court case led in 2023 to the conviction of nine people, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

Monsignor Makrickas, who worked directly with his immediate superior, Substitute of the Secretary of State Archbishop Peña Parra, was the first non-Italian to hold this particularly important position, a strong sign of Pope Francis' confidence. Under his mandate, the pontiff removed most of the economic powers of the Secretariat of State, and Monsignor Makrickas actively participated in the restructuring of his office.

In 2023, Pope Francis made Makrickas an archbishop.

In 2021, the pontiff appointed the Lithuanian as extraordinary commissioner of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major according to the Latin formula “donec aliter provideatur,” which means “until the pope decides otherwise.” This was a new and delicate mission from a financial standpoint. The basilica had been weakened by a scandal involving the management of its significant assets, even though the events in question dated back several years.

In 2015, a former administrator of the Chapter of Saint Mary Major was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud and embezzlement by the Vatican court for events dating back to 2008. He was also ordered to pay €250,000 (currently equivalent to more than $294,000) to the basilica's chapter. Monsignor Makrickas was then given full authority over the basilica's affairs, although Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko remained the archpriest.

Pope Francis was particularly attached to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he visited more than 120 times during his pontificate. He went to pray before the ancient icon of the Virgin Mary known as “Salus populi romani.”

After the pontiff's death, the Lithuanian said that he had suggested to the pope in 2022 that he be buried next to the icon, which the latter initially refused. According to Archbishop Makrickas, the Pope probably considered that it was the duty of St. Peter's Successors to be buried in the basilica that bears his name in the Vatican, as Benedict XVI and John Paul II were, for example.

But just a week later, Francis called Archishop Makrickas to tell him that he had changed his mind: “The Virgin told me to prepare the tomb,” he reportedly said, before adding: “I am happy that the Virgin has not forgotten me.”

The Pope then asked the Lithuanian to find a place for his tomb.

On March 20, 2024, Francis appointed Bishop Makrickas as coadjutor archpriest of St. Mary Major, succeeding Cardinal Rylko. He created him a cardinal in his last consistory on December 7, 2024.

In accordance with his wishes, the Pontiff was buried on April 26, 2025, in an alcove near the Pauline Chapel, where the icon to which he was so devoted is located.

The Argentine pope's successor, Leo XIV, has already visited the Marian basilica three times since the beginning of his pontificate: on May 10, upon his return from his first trip outside the Vatican; on May 25, as part of the traditional visits to the major Roman basilicas; and on June 22, at the end of the Corpus Christi procession.