Roberto Tucci was born in
Naples, Italy, on 19 April 1921 He received his baptism in the Anglican Church on 1 October 1936. He earned a
licentiate in sacred theology from the
Pontifical University of Louvain, where the issues that would be the subject of the Second Vatican Council were already being discussed. He was made
cardinal deacon of
Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio in the consistory of 21 February 2001. The pope granted him a dispensation from the rule that all cardinals be ordained
bishops. For two months, until his 80th birthday, he was eligible to participate in a papal conclave though not a bishop. On 21 February 2011, he opted for the order of
cardinal priest, and his diaconal church was elevated to the rank of titular church. In 2012, his early diaries were published as
Giovanni XXIII e la preparazione del Concilio Vaticano II nei diari ineditii del direttore della «Civiltà cattolica» padre Roberto Tucci (
John XXIII and the preparation of the Second Vatican Council, the unpublished diaries of the director of "Civiltà Cattolica" Father Roberto Tucci). His account of editorial battles between different generations of Jesuits at his magazine mirrors that of the Council fathers. He was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree by the
University of Notre Dame in 1966. ==Notes==