Angelo Sodano, Italian cardinal
Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC (born 23 November 1927) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a Cardinal since 1991. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019, and Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 to 2006; Sodano was the first person since 1828 to serve simultaneously as Dean and Secretary of State.
On 22 June 2006, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Sodano's resignation as Secretary of State, effective on 15 September 2006. He had served in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See since 1959, including a decade as nuncio to Chile from 1978 to 1988.
On 21 December 2019, the same day it was reported that he shielded sexually abusive clergy in the Legion of Christ, Pope Francis accepted Sodano's resignation as Dean of the College of Cardinals. The Vatican cited old age as the reason for Sodano's resignation.