James Michael Harvey

Who is James Michael Harvey?

James Michael Harvey is an American Roman Catholic cardinal.

He was born in the U.S. city of Milwaukee, and was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on June 29, 1975, by Pope Paul VI in Rome. In that ceremony, 359 priests were ordained to mark the Holy Year.

Harvey studied at the St. Francis Seminary. He was then sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate in canon law, while residing at the Pontifical North American College. He studied diplomacy at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. Besides his native English, he speaks Italian, German, French and Spanish.

Harvey entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on March 25, 1980. He served as attaché in the apostolic nunciature in the Dominican Republic from 1980 until 1981 then as secretary from 1981 to 1982. On July 10, 1982, he went to work at the Secretariat of State. He was named assessor of the Secretariat of State on July 22, 1997.

On February 7, 1998, he was named Prefect of the Papal Household by Pope John Paul II, who consecrated him a bishop of the titular see of Memphis on March 19, 1998.