Roman Catholic Cardinal. The youngest of five male children, Alberto Bovone entered seminary in Alessandria at an early age, undergoing studies at the Turin State University. Ordained priest by Monsignor Giuseppe Angrisani at Casale Monferrato on May 26, 1945, following his ordination, he served briefly in the diocese of Alessandria, later pursuing further studies between 1946 and 1951 at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, earning a doctorate in canon law, and at the Sacred Roman Rota, of which he became a lawyer. Entering service of the Holy See as officer in the Sacred Congregation of the Council in October 1951, he became capo d'ufficio of the Pastoral Section. Attending the Second Ordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, held at the Vatican City between September 30 and November 6, 1971, serving as special secretary, he was named undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on May 21, 1973, succeeding Msgr. Jean Jérôme Hamer OP., future cardinal prefect of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Elected archbishop of the titular see of Caesarea in Numidia by Pope John Paul II on April 5, 1984 and named secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bovone received his episcopal consecration on the following May 12 in Alessandria from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and future Pope Benedict XVI. Following the retirement of Cardinal Angelo Felici, he was appointed pro-prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, on June 13, 1995. Pope John Paul II created him cardinal deacon in the consistory of February 21, 1998 and appointed him prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Already ailing, he received the red biretta and the deaconry of Ognissanti in via Appia Nuova in the Policlinic Agostino Gemelli, following the end of the consistorial ceremony held at St. Peter's from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State. The Cardinal passed away at the named Policlinico on Friday, April 17, at 20.00 hrs., having received extreme unction from Cardinal Giovanni Canestri, a lifelong friend who spent days next to his deathbed. Upon receiving the last rites, Bovone removed his oxygen mask and expressed: "È il regalo più bello che poteva farmi...non posso non pensare al Santo Padre...sono felice di essere un sacerdote". His funeral mass, celebrated on April 20 at St. Peter's Basilica, presided by Pope John Paul II, saw the participation of forty Cardinals and sixty Bishops. Originally interred inside the family chapel at the cemetery of Frugarolo, Alessandria, his remains where transferred to the local parish church of San Felice in the presence of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on Sunday, October 7, 2007 and reburied in a specially constructed marble sarcophagus.