Paolo Romeo

Paolo Romeo was born on 20 February 1938 in Acireale, a cathedral city in the province of Catania on Sicily's Ionian coast. He was the fifth of nine children. He went to primary school at the Collegio Pennisi, run by the Jesuits, and middle school at the state school Paolo Vasta, before entering the diocesan seminary of Acireale, where he completed secondary studies and began theology. Throughout his life he kept close ties with the clergy and faithful of Acireale, and he returned there to live in retirement.

In 1959 he was sent to Rome as a student of the Almo Collegio Capranica. He earned a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and a doctorate (laurea) in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University. He was ordained a priest on 18 March 1961 in the chapel of the Acireale episcopal seminary by Bishop Angelo Calabretta of Noto, and was incardinated in the Diocese of Acireale. While continuing his studies he served as chaplain to the Roma IX Scout group at the Collegio San Giuseppe in Piazza di Spagna and as diocesan assistant of the Silent Workers of the Cross (Silenziosi Operai della Croce), which offers spiritual accompaniment to the sick. In 1964 he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which trains the Holy See's diplomats.

Romeo joined the Holy See's diplomatic service on 1 January 1967. He served in the papal missions in the Philippines, Belgium and Luxembourg, at the European Communities, in Venezuela, and in Rwanda and Burundi. In 1976 he returned to the Secretariat of State (then the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church) to follow the Catholic Church in Latin America and the work of CELAM during preparations for the third general conference of Latin American bishops, opened by John Paul II at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on 29 January 1979. He also directed the Casa Internazionale del Clero and was AGESCI's regional chaplain for Lazio.

On 17 December 1983 John Paul II named him titular Archbishop of Vulturia and Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, and ordained him bishop in St Peter's Basilica on 6 January 1984, with Eduardo Martinez Somalo and Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy as co-consecrators. In Haiti he served through the fall of the Duvalier regime and successive coups. On 24 April 1990 he became nuncio to Colombia, where he consecrated several bishops including the future cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, took part in the fourth general conference of the Latin American episcopate, and was papal special envoy at presidential inaugurations in El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador. He was nuncio to Canada from 5 February 1999 and nuncio to Italy and San Marino from 17 April 2001 to December 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Palermo on 19 December 2006, succeeding Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi. He took possession on 10 February 2007 and received the pallium in St Peter's Basilica on 29 June 2007. On 14 February 2007 he was elected president of the Sicilian Bishops' Conference, and he was also Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sicily and Grand Prior of the Sicilian lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

He welcomed Benedict XVI to Palermo on 3 October 2010. At the consistory of 20 November 2010 the pope created him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Odigitria dei Siciliani. He was a cardinal elector in the March 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. On 25 May 2013 he presided over the Mass of beatification of Father Pino Puglisi at the Foro Italico, while Cardinal De Giorgi read the apostolic letter as the pope's delegate. From 8 April 2013 to 2015 he was apostolic administrator of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi. Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 27 October 2015 and named Corrado Lorefice his successor; Romeo remained apostolic administrator until Lorefice's installation in December 2015.

On 21 January 2016 Pope Francis named him cardinal president of the Almo Collegio Capranica, where he had studied as a young seminarian; Cardinal Angelo De Donatis succeeded him in 2019. On his 80th birthday, 20 February 2018, he ceased to be eligible to vote in a conclave. In his final years he chose to return permanently to Acireale, where, according to the diocese, he lived with discretion and a spirit of prayer, close to his family and the local clergy.

Romeo's episcopal motto was Caritas omnia sustinet (love bears all things), from St Paul's hymn to charity in 1 Corinthians 13. The Diocese of Acireale described his style as direct and frank, favouring dialogue with institutions and urging priests and lay people to witness to their faith with coherence. In Palermo he spoke openly against the Mafia, especially around the Puglisi beatification, saying that Puglisi was killed because he formed consciences, built up his parish community and helped people escape the mechanisms that enslaved them, and that the Mafiosi who call themselves believers serve oppression, hatred and death.

Romeo bridged two worlds: the Vatican's diplomatic corps, in which he served on four continents from the pontificate of Paul VI to that of Benedict XVI, and the pastoral leadership of one of Italy's largest and most historically burdened dioceses. His years in Palermo are remembered above all for the beatification of Pino Puglisi, described by Vatican Radio as the first Mafia martyr of the Church of Palermo. Palermo mayor Roberto Lagalla said he led the archdiocese with pastoral sensitivity, humanity and deep dedication, with attention to the most fragile communities. Among the bishops he ordained are Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota and his own successor in Palermo, Corrado Lorefice.

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (13 June 2005). Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (25 April 2007). Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (19 December 2006), and Grand Prior of its Sicilian lieutenancy from 2006 to 2025.

On 10 February 2012 Il Fatto Quotidiano published an anonymous memo in German, dated 30 December 2011 and passed to the Secretariat of State and the papal household by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. It claimed that during a trip to Beijing in November 2011 Romeo had predicted that Benedict XVI would die within twelve months and that Angelo Scola would succeed him. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confirmed the document existed but dismissed it as ravings. Romeo confirmed only that he had made an authorised trip to China and denied the remarks. After Benedict announced his resignation in February 2013, he again called the story an invented lie, noting that the pope had not died in 2012.

In June 2026 Romeo was admitted to the San Marco hospital in Catania, and Archbishop Corrado Lorefice asked the Archdiocese of Palermo to pray for his recovery. He died at the same hospital on Sunday 25 October 2026, aged 88. ANSA reported that he died after a long illness; no specific cause was made public. The Diocese of Acireale announced that his body would lie in state from 9.30 on Tuesday 27 October in the Cathedral Basilica of Acireale, with a prayer vigil that evening, and that the funeral would be celebrated there on Wednesday 28 October 2026 at 11.00. A burial place had not been announced.