In April 2005, then-Bishop James M. Harvey, top center, walks behind the casket of Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square during his funeral. The Milwaukee native served the pope in a role similar to personal secretary for the previous seven years and did the same for Pope Benedict XVI. (CNS photo)

While it may not have been apparent to him, in hindsight it seems like Cardinal James M. Harvey was destined for big things and a role near the central seat of power in the Catholic Church.

The day before he began his studies at St. Francis Minor Seminary, the building that is now home to the Mary Mother of the Church Pastoral Center was blessed, so his first day there was its first day of operations.

In time, he was one 359 men ordained to the priesthood 50 years ago by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1975.

Soon after, he was sent to Rome for additional studies.

“I presumed I was going to be coming home and working in a parish,” Cardinal Harvey said, “or I might end up being a teacher, because a lot of the people who had gone to Rome before wound up being teachers for some years.”

In fact, the archdiocese personnel board had assigned him to a parish. However, unknown to Fr. Harvey and the personnel board, the Vatican Secretary of State had been in contact with then-Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland and wanted Fr. Harvey to serve in its diplomatic corps. As English was becoming more prominent as a diplomatic language, the Vatican was encouraging more and more bishops to release priests from English-speaking countries.

“It was decided that I was the one that could be their guinea pig,” Cardinal Harvey said.

In March 1980, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See.

For most of the intervening 45 years, Cardinal Harvey has had a role in Rome and the Vatican, including serving as the prefect for the papal household from 1998 until 2012 and as archpriest for the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls since 2012.

During his time away from Rome in the early 1980s, Cardinal Harvey served as the attaché and secretary to the apostolic nuncio in the Dominican Republic. In that role, he helped facilitate the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s sister parish relationship with La Sagrada Familia, a partnership that remains in effect to this day.

Archbishop Weakland’s world travels as the abbot of the Benedictines prior to his time as archbishop made Cardinal Harvey believe he may be receptive to such an arrangement. Within a year, there were two Archdiocese of Milwaukee priests serving there.

Cardinal Harvey, 75, has maintained other strong ties with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, especially his alma mater and its seminarians and priests who have studied in Rome as he once did.

Growing up in his beloved Milwaukee, he said there wasn’t any one particular moment that spurred him to the priesthood.

He said the example of Catholic priests from his boyhood influenced his decision, but he said the example of women religious was an even bigger influence.

“They set up a certain kind of cultural, Catholic environment, which made it not an unusual thing for a Catholic boy to think about,” Cardinal Harvey said.

But this Milwaukee Catholic boy never pictured serving for 45 years at the Vatican, much less working with two popes.

Cardinal Harvey worked closely with Pope John Paul II for many years in a role that could be described as his personal secretary and then saw him canonized as a saint.

Because of his close proximity to Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Harvey was jokingly referred to as the second-most photographed man in the world.

That position as prefect of the papal household gave Cardinal Harvey an up-close glimpse of the man who traveled as much as any pope ever, and inspired millions.

Cardinal Harvey said the public St. John Paul II matched almost exactly with the man he saw behind the scenes on a daily basis.

“It wouldn’t be surprising if, in fact, someone under tremendous pressure, in moments of being tired and frustration, might let their hair down or something,” Cardinal Harvey said. “That’s not the case. It was very much the man everyone knew.”

After St. John Paul II’s death in 2005, Cardinal Harvey thought his time in the papal household was coming to an end, figuring Pope Benedict XVI would want to bring his own man.

“I sort of presumed I was going to be rotated out,” Cardinal Harvey said. “As a matter of fact, (Pope Benedict) said, ‘You’re young and you get along well here.’”

So, Cardinal Harvey remained in that role until late 2012, when he was made a cardinal and named archpriest at one of the four papal basilicas, St. Paul Outside the Walls.

“I would say the same thing for Pope Benedict,” Cardinal Harvey noted about how he was in public and private. “He was a truly virtuous man. Everyone knew he was a good man of towering intellectual accomplishment, but in his heart, he was a simple Bavarian priest and never once did I ever hear one unkind word come out.”

BIOGRAPHY — CARDINAL JAMES M. HARVEY

■ 1949: Born in Milwaukee

■ June 29, 1975: Ordained as a priest by Pope Paul VI

■ 1980: Entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See

■ 1980-82: Served as attaché and secretary to the apostolic nunciature in the Dominican Republic

■ 1982-1997: Worked at the Secretariat of State

■ 1998-2012: Named prefect of the papal household by St. John Paul II as pope and continued under Pope Benedict XVI

■ 1998: Consecrated as a bishop; named titular see of Memphis (Egypt)

■ 2003: Elevated to archbishop by St. John Paul II as pope

■ 2012: Appointed archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls

■ 2012: Created as a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI

■ 2013: One of the cardinal electors in the papal conclave that elected Pope Francis

■ May 2025: One of the cardinal electors in the papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV