Giovanni Battista Re

His Eminence Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re (born January 30, 1934) is a leading Italian Cardinal who heads the Congregation for Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.

Born in Brescia and ordained a priest there in 1957, since 1963 he has been a member of the Roman Curia. He became a monsignor in 1964 and served in various diplomatic positions before being named a bishop and Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops in 1987, under its then Prefect, Bernardin Cardinal Gantin. Pope John Paul II personally consecrated him a bishop.

In December 1989 he was transferred to become Sostituto for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, one of the key positions under the Cardinal Secretary of State. In this position he became known as one of the most influential men at the Vatican, though his position was of too low rank for him to be named a Cardinal; there was (unfounded) speculation that he was one of the two men named secretly (in pectore) as Cardinals in the consistory of 1998.

In September 2000 he was named to head the Congregation for Bishops, a position always held by a Cardinal, and became a Cardinal in the consistory held the following February, named first among all those elevated. The next year he was named a Cardinal Bishop when a vacancy arose in that order. This is an unusually fast advancement for a Cardinal but the head of the Congregation for Bishops is usually a Cardinal Bishop (and it was exceptional for someone not already a Cardinal to be named Prefect of the Congregation). He is frequently mentioned as a Papabile cardinal, a candidate to be the next Pope.