Cardinal Paolo Romeo, Former Archbishop of Palermo, Dies at 88

Cardinal Paolo Romeo, the archbishop emeritus of Palermo, died on Sunday morning, October 25, 2026, at San Marco Hospital in Catania at the age of 88. The Diocese of Acireale announced his death, and Vatican News reported that he died after a long illness. Romeo led the Archdiocese of Palermo from 2006 to 2015, and before that he spent more than two decades representing the Holy See as a diplomat on three continents.

Funeral in his home city

Romeo was born in Acireale, and the last farewell will take place there. The Diocese of Acireale said his body will lie in state at the Cathedral Basilica of Acireale on Tuesday, October 27, from 9:30 a.m., and a prayer vigil will be held in the cathedral that evening at 8 p.m. His funeral will be celebrated on Wednesday, October 28, at 11 a.m. in the same cathedral. Vatican News reported that Corrado Lorefice, the current archbishop of Palermo, invited the faithful to pray for Romeo.

A Sicilian in the Vatican diplomatic service

Paolo Romeo was born on February 20, 1938, in Acireale, the fifth of nine children. He was ordained a priest on March 18, 1961. He had earned a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University, and he trained at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy before entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1967. On December 17, 1983, he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Haiti. He later served as nuncio to Colombia from 1990, to Canada from 1999, and to Italy and San Marino from 2001. His episcopal motto was Caritas omnia sustinet, Latin for charity bears all things.

Palermo and the cardinal's hat

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Romeo archbishop of Palermo on December 19, 2006, and he was installed on February 10, 2007. He was elected president of the Sicilian Episcopal Conference on February 14, 2007, and received the pallium from Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica on June 29, 2007. The Diocese of Acireale remembered a direct and frank style in his ministry and a habit of dialogue with public institutions. Benedict created him a cardinal on November 20, 2010, as Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Odigitria. Romeo took part in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. His resignation as archbishop of Palermo was accepted on October 27, 2015, and Corrado Lorefice succeeded him. He returned to live in his native Acireale in his final years.