VATICAN // Who is Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the man who delivered the words the world was waiting for, “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a Pope!”?
According to tradition and legislation, as the protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, Mamberti was the first to introduce the new pontiff to the Catholic faithful after the white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel.
The French-speaking Cardinal was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 1952 to French parents, and his life has been shaped by service and diplomacy. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ajaccio, Corsica in 1981, he quickly entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service, serving in Algeria, Chile, Lebanon, and at the United Nations in New York.
He became Apostolic Nuncio to Sudan and Eritrea, and later, Secretary for Relations with States – the Vatican’s equivalent of foreign minister. In that role, he represented the Holy See in major international affairs and defended religious freedom on the world stage.
In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest judicial authority – replacing Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke – and made him a cardinal the following year.
Mamberti emerged onto the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to announce the new pope this afternoon about an hour after the white smoke first billowed from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. He used the ancient, heart-stopping formula:
“Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Robert Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Prevost, qui sibi nomen imposuit Leo XIV.”
“The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord, Lord Robert Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Prevost, who has taken the name Leo XIV.”
Interestingly, if Cardinal Mamberti were to have been elected pope, the honor of announcing “Habemus Papam” would have passed to the next senior cardinal deacon: Cardinal Mario Zenari, the Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, another distinguished Vatican diplomat known for his humanitarian work during the Syrian civil war.
Zenari, a cardinal since 2016, has spent his career advocating for peace and for the suffering people of Syria, embodying the Church’s mission in some of the world’s most challenging contexts.
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