Gianfranco Ghirlanda SJ (born 5 July 1942) is an Italian Catholic prelate and administrator at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he has taught since 1975, served as dean of the Faculty of Canon Law from 1995 to 2004, and led as rector from 2004 to 2010.

He has served the Holy See as a consultor of various congregations and councils, and was a judge of the Court of Appeal in Vatican City from 1993 to 2003.

[2] He has assisted in the drafting of apostolic constitutions[3] and authored the commentary that accompanied the release of Anglicanorum coetibus in 2009.

[4] On 4 July 2014, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, the Prefect and the Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, announced Ghirlanda's appointment as papal assistant to the Legion of Christ in its ongoing attempt to complete its renewal process.

[8] On 27 August 2022, Pope Francis made him a cardinal deacon,[9] assigning him as his deaconry the Church of the Gesù.