Cardinal Emil Paul Tscherrig is a veteran Swiss Vatican diplomat who has had a positive and close relationship with Pope Francis and shares the Pope’s vision for the Church, especially regarding reform and synodality.

Born on February 3, 1947, in Unterems, Switzerland, he was the eldest of eight children in a mountain farmer family. Tscherrig was ordained a priest on April 11, 1974, for the Diocese of Sion. He then studied and obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University before entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1978.

Throughout his career, Tscherrig has held numerous diplomatic positions. He began working in the Secretariat of State, assisting in preparations for Pope John Paul II’s international trips. In 1992 the Pope conferred to him the titular of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness. He then went on to serve as secretary in apostolic nunciatures to Uganda, South Korea, Mongolia and Bangladesh.

His first major appointment came on May 4, 1996, when Pope John Paul II named him titular archbishop of Voli and Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi. His episcopal consecration was presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano on June 27 of the same year. This marked the beginning of a series of diplomatic assignments that would span several continents.

Tscherrig served as apostolic nuncio to various countries in the Caribbean and Antilles region, South Korea, Mongolia, and the Nordic countries. In 2008 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as nuncio to the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway), with an office in Stockholm. In January 2012, he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Argentina where he came to know its then archbishop, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

In 2017, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic nuncio to Italy and San Marino, making him the first non-Italian to hold the position and breaking the long-standing “Italian exception” in Vatican diplomacy.¹Since the Lateran Pacts of 1929, nuncios to Italy have always been of Italian nationality — an exception to the rule applied elsewhere where nuncios are of a nationality different from that of the country to which they are appointed, in order to avoid any “national” influence in diplomatic affairs.

On September 30, 2023, Pope Francis elevated Tscherrig to the rank of cardinal.

Cardinal Tscherrig has expressed hope for Church reform through synodality, stating: “I hope that the synodal process will successfully bring the necessary changes in the Church.” He has also said “a lot of work still needs to be done so that, in addition to the priests, the laity are also more involved in church affairs.”

He has expressed concern about divisions within the Church, stating, “The lack of unity is a wound that the Church suffers, a very painful one.”

During the 2014 Synod on the Family, Tscherrig supported a more flexible pastoral approach to people in “irregular situations,” emphasizing meeting people where they are and leading them closer to holiness. This indicates that he supports the teaching in Amoris Laetitia that seemed to allow people who are divorced and civilly remarried to receive Holy Communion in some cases.

It is not clear what languages Tscherrig speaks apart from Swiss German, but given his diplomatic work it can be inferred he speaks English, Spanish and Italian.