12 Facts About Paolo Romeo

Paolo Romeo was born on 20 February 1938 and is an Italian cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Palermo.

Paolo Romeo was appointed to the see of Palermo by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2006.

Paolo Romeo's bishop sent him to Rome in 1959 to complete his academic studies and he achieved the licentiate in theology at the Gregorian University and a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University.

Paolo Romeo was ordained on 18 March 1961 at the chapel of the Episcopal Seminary of Acireale, he was incardinated in the Diocese of Acireale.

Paolo Romeo stayed in Haiti until his appointment to serve as Nuncio in Colombia in April 1990.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Paolo Romeo to serve as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Palermo on 19 December 2006, replacing Salvatore De Giorgi, who had reached the retirement age of 75 in September 2005.

In 2005 Archbishop Paolo Romeo was awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Archbishop Paolo Romeo received the pallium in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on 29 June 2007 from Pope Benedict along with 45 other metropolitan archbishops.

Archbishop Paolo Romeo was elected president of the Sicilian Episcopal Conference on 14 February 2007.

Paolo Romeo was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Odigitria at a consistory on 20 November 2010 and was eligible to vote in a papal conclave until his 80th birthday in 2018.

Paolo Romeo was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.

Cardinal Paolo Romeo is Sicilian Grand Prior of the Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.