Roman Catholic Cardinal. The son of a tailor who rose to become one of the greatest diplomats for the State of the Vatican City through the second half of the twentieth century, Agostino Casaroli was born in Castel San Giovanni and frequenting the Collegio Alberoni of Piacenza, went on to further his studies at the Episcopal Seminary of Bedonia and successively in Rome at the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum, the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles and the Italian Society for International Organizations. Ordained priest in Piacenza on May 27, 1937, he was named adjunct to the archives and minutante at the Secretariat of State in 1940. Faculty member of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy between 1958 and 1961, he was named undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs on February 24 of the latter year. Chief of the Vatican delegation to the United Nations Organization Conference on diplomatic relations held in Vienna in March 1961 and of the Vatican delegation to the United Nations Organization Conference on consular relations held again in Vienna in March 1963, he was appointed secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs on June 29, 1967. Five days later, Pope Paul VI elected him archbishop of the titular see of Cartagine, consecrating him himself at the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica on July 16. A highly skilled diplomat who was able to negotiate with regimes hostile to the Church, his signing of treaties with Hungary in 1964 and Yugoslavia in 1966 was the first time the Vatican had opened itself in this way to Communist regimes who had killed many prominent churchmen since coming to power. Casaroli remains one of the most important figures behind the Vatican's efforts to deal with the persecution of the Church in the nations of the Soviet bloc after the Second Vatican Council. The mastermind behind Paul VI's Ostpolitik, he thus initiated a new style in dealing with the Communist bloc, enabling the Vatican to support Eastern European Catholics during the darkest days of the Cold War and seeking to improve conditions for the Catholic clergy behind the Iron Curtain. Special delegate of the Holy See to the Conference on European Security and Cooperation in Helsinki between July 30 to August 1, 1975, he acted as pro-secretary of State and pro-prefect of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church from April 28 until July 1, 1979. Pope John Paul II created him cardinal priest in his first consistory on June 30 that year with the title of Ss. XII Apostoli and appointed him Secretary of State of the Vatican City, prefect of the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church and president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State the following day. Appointed president of the Administration of Patrimony of the Apostolic See on January 30, 1981, although he was seen as less hardliner than any other close associate of Pope John Paul II, Casaroli's skillful diplomacy was seen by the Pontiff as an irreplaceable asset in the struggle against the Soviet Union. Named cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian see of Porto-Santa Rufina on May 25, 1985, he retired from the Secretariat of State on December 1, 1990, being succeeded by Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Vice-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1993 until his demise from cardio-respiratory complications at the Colombus Clinic in Rome on Tuesday, June 9, 1998 at the age of 83, Casaroli remained committed to his priestly ministry in spite of his numerous assignments. He served among others as the longtime chaplain of Villa Agnese for detainees from 1950 until his death, and through his retirement went on to attend young internees, first at Porta Portese and later at Casal del Marmo in Rome. Temporarily buried at the Campo Verano Cemetery in Rome, his remains were transferred to the Basilica of the Ss. XII Apostoli in Rome, his first cardinalatial title.