Angelo Sodano
AP
Secretary of State of the Vatican
As second man in the church hierarchy after the pope, Sodano was chosen by Pope John Paul II to reveal the so-called third secret of Fatima, which involved a prophecy of the 1981 attempt on the pontiff's life - a vision seen by three Portuguese shepherd children in 1917. Sodano often acts as the top envoy and representative for the Catholic Church and Vatican State when the pope is unable to attend. Sodano, an Italian, speaks several languages.