cacciavillan, as the longest serving cardinal-deacon, was cardinal protodeacon, the cardinal who makes the "habemus papam" announcement upon the conclusion of a papal conclave, from 1 march 2008, when cardinal darío castrillón hoyos became a cardinal-priest until 21 february 2011, when he became a cardinal priest himself. in the roman curia, he was a member of the congregation for bishops, congregation for oriental churches, congregation for the evangelization of peoples, congregation for the causes of saints, pontifical council for the interpretation of legislative texts, pontifical commission for latin america, and pontifical commission for vatican city state. he lost these positions on reaching his 80th birthday.