Paglia WMA Bio 6 9 2021

ARCHBISHOP MSGR. VINCENZO PAGLIA
Archbishop Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia was born in Boville Ernica (Frosinone, Italy) in 1945 and
obtained the degree in theology and philosophy from the Lateran University and another one in
pedagogy from the University of Urbino. He was ordained as priest in 1970, and from 1981 to
2000 served as parish priest in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome; he was also
the ecclesiastical assistant of the Community of Sant’Egidio and is the postulator of the cause of
beatification of the Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Arnulfo Romero. In 2000 he was
ordained as Bishop of Terni Narni Amelia in the Cathedral of St. John Lateran. Since 2002, he is
president of the International Catholic Biblical Federation and, from 2004 to 2009, he was also
chairman of the Commission Ecumenism and Dialogue of the Italian Episcopal Conference. For
his work in peace he received, in 1999, the UNESCO’s Gandhi Medal and in 2003 the Mother
Teresa Prize of Albanian Government. He has collaborated with the Department of
Contemporary History at the Sapienza University of Rome and has published studies and
articles on the social and religious history as well as on the history of poverty. On 26 June 2012,
Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to the dignity of archbishop and appointed him president of
the Pontifical Council for the Family. On 17 August 2016 has been appointed President of the
Pontifical Academy for Life and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for
Studies on Marriage and the Family.