Marcello Bartolucci
Marcello Bartolucci (born 9 April 1944) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He has held the rank of archbishop since 2011 and was the Secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 2010 to 2021. He held several other posts in that Congregation beginning in 1977. Biography. Bartolucci was born in 1944 in Bastia Umbra in the diocese of Assisi. He studied at the philosophy and theology and the regional seminary and was ordained on 9 November 1968. He received his doctorate in theology and a Diploma in Pastoral Theology, specializing in catechesis from  the Pontifical Lateran University and a licentiate in canon law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, "Angelicum" in Rome. After ten years of pastoral experience, first as curate and then as parish priest, with a number of positions within the diocese, and also as a teacher of religion in state schools in 1977, he joined the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in the service of the Office of the Judicial Ministry. Following the reform of the Congregation and the process in 1983, he collaborated with various superiors that have followed in the preparation of opinions on individual  cases in the study of processes and practices in the Secretariat. For over twenty years he was in charge of drafting the decrees on the virtues, martyrdom and miracles, both in Italian and Latin for publication on "Acta Apostolicae Sedis". He was also responsible for writing in the Italian Papal Bulls of canonisation and Briefs Apostolic beatification. He served as Secretary of the Commission for the revision of the rite of beatification. He taught at the "Studium" of the congregation. He was appointed Under-Secretary of Congregation on 14 July 2007 and served in that capacity until 29 December 2010  when Pope Benedict appointed him Titular Archbishop of Mevania and secretary of the Congregation. He was consecrated on 5 February 2011 by Pope Benedict. The co-consecrators were Cardinals Angelo Sodano and Tarcisio Bertone, SDB. He was confirmed in his position as secretary by Pope Francis on 19 December 2013. He was succeeded as secretary by Fabio Fabene on 18 January 2021.