He was born and raised in Nidastore, a small town in the Comune of Arcevia in the Province of Ancona in the Marche region located in central-eastern Italy.

His entry into the seminary was delayed by the start of World War II, so he continued to assist his family in the fields and attended a vocational school in the meantime.

[1][3] On 5 November 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Bishop of Zama Minor and secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, where he served until his resignation in April 1996.

[4] In one of his last appointments, Pope John Paul II named him president of the Pontifical Academy for Life on 3 January 2005, a post he held until his age-induced resignation was accepted on 17 June 2008.

[1] He was one of four prelates over the age of 80, known for their distinguished contributions to Catholicism, whom Pope Benedict XVI elevated to the rank of cardinal in the consistory on 20 November 2010.

In 1990 he became a full professor at the university and joined Italy's Comitato Nazionale per la Bioetica (National Bioethics Committee), where he contributed to its many expert opinions until 2006.

He referred to his approach as "ontologically grounded personalism",[8][3] which applies a three-point or "triangular" method of scientific data, philosophical anthropology and reason-based claims of moral obligation for action in order to make ethical judgments.