Gianfranco Ravasi (born 18 October 1942) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a biblical scholar. A cardinal since 2010, he was President of the Pontifical Council for Culture from 2007 to 2022. He headed Milan's Ambrosian Library from 1989 to 2007. Biography Early life The oldest of three children, Ravasi was born in Merate, Province of Lecco. His father was an anti-fascist treasury agent who served in Sicily during World War II, but later deserted the army; it took him 18 months to return to his family. Ravasi later said: "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. Early career Ravasi planned on a career teaching Greek and Latin classics before decided to join the priesthood. He attended the seminary of Milan and was ordained by Cardinal Giovanni Colombo on 28 June 1966. He studied 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. He later served as a professor of exegesis of the Old Testament at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy in Milan. From 1989 to 2007, he was prefect of the Ambrosian Library, where he became a well-known figure in literary and academic circles while also giving popular lectures on religious subjects. Roman Curia On 3 September 2007, Ravasi was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and named an archbishop of the titular see of Villamagna in Proconsulari. He was also named President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology. Pope Benedict XVI consecrated him a bishop on 29 September, with Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone and Marian Jaworski as co-consecrators. On 20 November 2010, he was created Cardinal-Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro. On 11 December 2010, Ravasi was named a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education for a five-year renewable term. On 29 December 2010, he was appointed a member of the new Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation and also a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In February 2013, during the final days of the