17 Facts About Francesco Coccopalmerio

Francesco Coccopalmerio was president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 February 2007 until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on 7 April 2018.

Francesco Coccopalmerio spent his early years in the Archdiocese of Milan and became an auxiliary bishop in 1993.

Francesco Coccopalmerio was ordained a priest on 28 June 1962 by Giovanni Montini, then the archbishop of Milan.

Francesco Coccopalmerio received a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1968.

Francesco Coccopalmerio held positions in the archdiocese of Milan until 1994.

Francesco Coccopalmerio was professor of canon law at the Faculty of Theology in northern Italy from 1966 to 1999.

Since 2000, Francesco Coccopalmerio has been a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Francesco Coccopalmerio was reported to have been one of the senior prelates who, in preparing to announce the lifting of the excommunications of four leaders of the Society of Saint Pius X in January 2009, failed to take account of recent reports that one of them, Bishop Richard Williamson, was a Holocaust denier.

Francesco Coccopalmerio was appointed a five-year renewable term as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 23 December 2010.

On 21 April 2012, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio was named a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Apostolic Signatura, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

At the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization in October 2012, Francesco Coccopalmerio argued that ecumenical efforts to further unify Christians across sectarian lines could play a pivotal role in countering the ongoing "de-Christianization" of Europe by presenting "an extraordinary sign to Islam" of Christian solidarity.

Francesco Coccopalmerio endorsed the idea of access to the Eucharist for some Catholics in irregular marital situations.

Francesco Coccopalmerio offered the example of a woman who lives with a man who has three small children by a wife who abandoned him.

Francesco Coccopalmerio imagined her coming to Communion "during her father's funeral Mass, or the day of one of the children's confirmation".

In 2015, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio questioned the scope of the authority given to the Secretariat for the Economy and its prefect Cardinal Pell.

Leven alleged that Francesco Coccopalmerio is known in Rome for generally opposing the removal of culprit priests from the priesthood, which for him is akin to the "death penalty".

Francesco Coccopalmerio was the first cardinal to propose the creation of a permanent dialogue table between the Church and Freemasonry.