Gianfranco Ravasi

His Eminence Gianfranco Ravasi
President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
Cardinal Ravasi in 2012
Appointed	3 September 2007
Predecessor	Paul Poupard
Other posts	Cardinal-Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church President of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology
Orders
Ordination	28 June 1966 by Giovanni Umberto Colombo
Consecration	29 September 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI
Created Cardinal	20 November 2010 by Benedict XVI
Rank	Cardinal-Deacon
Personal details
Birth name	Gianfranco Ravasi
Born	(1942-10-18) 18 October 1942 (age 74) Merate, Province of Lecco, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Prefect of the Ambrosian Library (1989–2007) Titular Archbishop of Villamagna in Proconsulari (2007–2010)
Motto	Praedica Verbum (Preach the Word) — 2 Timothy 4:2
Coat of arms

Styles of Gianfranco Ravasi
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Gianfranco Ravasi (born 18 October 1942) is an Italian prelate, a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He currently serves in the Roman Curia as President of the Pontifical Council for Culture. On 20 November 2010 Ravasi was created cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

The oldest of three children, Ravasi was born in Merate, Province of Lecco. His father was an anti-fascist tax official who served in Sicily during World War II, but later deserted the army; it took him 18 months to return to his family. Ravasi would later say, "My search has always been for something permanent, for what is behind the transitory, the contingent. I'm fighting loss and death, which probably relates to the absence of my father in my first years." His mother was a schoolteacher.

Ravasi decided to join the priesthood instead of teaching Greek and Latin classics, as had been his original desire. He attended the seminary of Milan, and was ordained by Cardinal Giovanni Colombo on 28 June 1966. He then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He spent summers in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey, working as an archaeologist with such figures as Kathleen Kenyon and Roland de Vaux.