Under-Secretary from 1991 to 2011

Born April 20, 1944, in Montevideo (Uruguay), he is married to Lídice María Gómez Mango and has four children and seven grandchildren.  He studied in Montevideo, earning his doctorate in Law and Social Sciences and certification to practice as an attorney.

He was director of the Catholic Youth and University Student movement in Uruguay and, subsequently, in Latin America, and also worked as director of the Uruguayan Bishop’s Centre for Social Communications.

On 1 December 1971, he began his service in the Holy See and on 11 February 1977 was appointed Bureau Chief of the Pontifical Council for the Laity by His Holiness Paul VI.  On September 12, 1991 John Paul II appointed him Under-Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, a position confirmed in succession by the same Pope, and reconfirmed by His Holiness Benedict XVI February 24, 2009.

He has been a "visiting professor" at various Italian pontifical universities and those of other European and Latin American countries, and has numerous publications to his credit.  He has received several honors, including that of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

On 14 May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.