Mejia, Jorge María

Cardinal Jorge María Mejía, Archivist and Librarian emeritus of the Holy Roman Church, was born on January 31, 1923 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was ordained for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires on September 22, 1945 and holds a doctorate in theology from the Angelicum and a licentiate in Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome.

He was professor of Old Testament studies at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. During the Perón era he edited the Catholic journal Criterio and was a peritus at the Second Vatican Council. He was secretary of CELAM's Department of Ecumenism from 1967 until being named secretary of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews in 1977. In 1986 he was appointed Vice-President of the Pontifical Commission "Iustitia et Pax" and ordained titular Bishop of Apollonia on April 12.

On March 5, 1994 he was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and raised to the archiepiscopal dignity. Since 1998 he has been Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of February 21, 2001. Diaconate of St. Jerome of Charity.

Archivist and Librarian emeritus of the Holy Roman Church, October 2003.