Rev. Msgr. Carlo Maria Polvani was born in Milan on July 28, 1965. He attended the Istituto Leone XIII in Milan and the Collège Stanislas in Montréal. He received a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) from the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University in 1985 and earned his Ph.D. in 1990. In 1993, he obtained a Master of Divinity from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, USA. After completing his Licentiate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University, he specialized in Jurisprudence and Forensic Psychology in 1996 and received his doctorate in Canon Law in 1999.

A graduate of the Pontifical Lombard Seminary in Rome, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milan on February 14, 1998. Since 2013, he has held the title of Prelate of Honor of His Holiness. After attending the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, he joined the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See in July 1999 and was assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico.

Since 2001, he has been working at the Secretariat of State as the Head of the Information and Documentation Office and the Technical Office of the Section for General Affairs. He also serves as the Representative of the Holy See on the Government Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In 2015, he was appointed a Member of the Commission on Vatican Media and the Executive Committee on Information and Communication Technology of the Holy See. In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him Assistant Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture and in 2024, after the Reform of the Roman Curia sanctioned by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. On January 12, 2025, the Holy Father appointed him Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education and Archbishop with titular see of Regie.

In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him as Adjunct Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture and, in 2024, following the reform of the Roman Curia decreed by the Apostolic Constitution “Praedicate Evengelium”, he was appointed as Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. On January 12, 2025, the Holy Father appointed him Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education for the general affairs of the Dicastery and Archbishop with the titular see of Regie.

He is the author of various articles on scientific topics and is fluent in Italian, English, French, Spanish, and German.