His previous positions included President of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family from 1981 to 1995 and Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio from 1995 to 2003.

[8] Subsequently, he and Marcello Pera presented the Ratzinger's book L'Europa di Benedetto nella crisi delle culture.

[9] In the consistory of 24 March 2006, Pope Benedict XVI named Caffarra Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.

[11] He was identified at the time as "a strong conservative" voice for the opposition of the Catholic Church to the modern world[12] and one of Benedict XVI's less centrist appointments to the College of Cardinals.

[13] In a note Caffarra published on 14 February 2010, he wrote "public officials who openly support same-sex marriage cannot consider themselves to be Catholic".

He said: "It is impossible for the Catholic faith and support for putting homosexual unions on equal footing with marriage to coexist in one's conscience – the two contradict each other.

[20] He said that varying interpretations were producing inconsistency: "What is sin in Poland is good in Germany, that what is prohibited in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is permitted in Malta.