17 Facts About Agostino Casaroli

Agostino Casaroli was an Italian Catholic priest and diplomat for the Holy See, who became Cardinal Secretary of State.

Agostino Casaroli was an important figure behind the Vatican's efforts to deal with the religious persecution of the Church in the nations of the Soviet bloc after the Second Vatican Council.

Agostino Casaroli was educated at the Collegio Alberoni in Piacenza; the Episcopal Seminary of Bedonia, Piacenza; the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome where he earned a doctorate in canon law; and at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

Agostino Casaroli was ordained to the priesthood on 27 May 1937 in Piacenza.

Agostino Casaroli was named Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on 4 January 1945.

Agostino Casaroli served as chaplain of Villa Agnese from 1950 to 1998.

Agostino Casaroli was raised to the rank of Domestic prelate of His Holiness on 22 December 1954.

Agostino Casaroli served as an assistant to Cardinal Adeodato Giovanni Piazza at the First General Conference of the Latin American Bishops in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1955.

Agostino Casaroli served as a faculty member of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy from 1958 to 1961.

Agostino Casaroli was a signatory of the partial agreement between the Holy See and Hungary in Budapest on 15 September 1964.

Agostino Casaroli negotiated with the Communist Czechoslovak government over the appointment of Frantisek Tomasek as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Prague in February 1965.

Agostino Casaroli was appointed secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs on 29 June 1967.

Agostino Casaroli headed the CSCE conference in Helsinki from 30 July to 1 August 1975.

Agostino Casaroli was Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1993 until his 1998 death of cardiorespiratory disease.

Agostino Casaroli's signing of treaties with Hungary in 1964 and Yugoslavia in 1966 was the first time the Holy See had opened itself in this way to Communist regimes.

The couple presented the statue to Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, who accepted gratefully.

Cardinal Agostino Casaroli was portrayed by veteran character actor Ben Gazzara in the 2005 miniseries, Pope John Paul II.