Peter Brian Wells

Who is Peter Brian Wells?

Peter Brian Wells JCD STL is the current Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, effectively deputy to the chief of staff, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 July 2009. He had previously served under Fernando Filoni until May 2011.

Wells was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was ordained a priest on 12 July 1991 and was incardinated in the Diocese of Tulsa. He completed his studies in philosophy at Saint Meinrad Seminary College in Indiana, where he studied Laureti in Arts. He completed his studies in theology, as a student at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

In 1990, he obtained the baccalaureate in theology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, later gaining the Licentiate in Theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Rome, in 1992.

He received a licentiate and a doctorate in canon law from Pontifical Gregorian University in 1998 and 1999. At the same time as this he was a student at the elite Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.