Francesco Coccopalmerio

Styles of Francesco Coccopalmerio


Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	His Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	not applicable

Francesco Coccopalmerio (6 March 1938) is the current President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 February 2007.

[edit] Early Life

He received a licentiate in theology in 1963. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a Diploma in Moral Theology. In 1976 he obtained a Doctorate in Law at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milano.

He held positions in the Archdiocese of Milan until 1994. He was professor of Canon Law at the Faculty of Theology in northern Italy from 1966 to 1999. Since 1981, he was Professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

On 8 April 1993 Pope John Paul II appointed Coccopalmerio to be an Auxiliary Bishop of Milan with the titular see of Coeliana. He was ordained on 22 May of that year. He is know to be one of the Italian episcopate's lead voice on legal issues and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. In 2000, he was appointed as the lone auxiliary bishop on the membership of the Apostolic Signatura.

On 15 February 2007 he was raised to the level of Archbishop (pro hac vice) of the same see and appointed as President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts replacing Julián Cardinal Herranz Casado who had passed the age of retirement of 75.

It is expected that Archbishop Coccopalmerio will be created a Cardinal-Deacon in the next consistory, which is expected sometime around late 2009.

Describing the code he said: "it is not just a collection of norms created by the will of ecclesiastical legislators," it "indicates the duties and rights inherent to the faithful and to the structure of the Church as instituted by Christ."

Preceded by Julián Cardinal Herranz Casado	President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts 15 February 2007–incumbent	Succeeded by incumbent