Born on 24 July 1961, in San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia).
In 1987 he joined the Army national service serving in the 60th Infantry Regiment "Col di Lana" based in Trapani.
Married to Giovanna, they have a daughter, Francesca Romana, and a son, Angelo.
He obtained a degree in Arts and Philosophy from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan), in 1985.
In 1992 he became a secondary education tenured teacher .
From 2007 to 2009 he was untenured professor at the European University of Rome, teaching “Fundamental human rights in natural law and in international conventions” and “History of the European Institutions”.
In 1999 he was elected Member of the European Parliament, EPP-ED group.
From 1999 to 2004 he was Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, promoter and Rapporteur on the E-Learning and Erasmus Mundus programs.
As Vice-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, he actively engaged in promoting and protecting human rights in various parts of the world, visiting many non-EU countries and proposing 13 Resolutions to defend life and freedom of religion.
Re-elected at the European Parliament (2004-2009), he held the position of Vice-President. He reinforced the Parliament communication strategy while reducing the bureaucratic burden and, in his capacity as Vice President responsible for STOA and research programs, he promoted a European dimension in research.
He was actively engaged in raising the awareness of the European Institutions on sensitive issues such as international adoptions, freedom of religion, freedom of press and the Darfur genocide, while fostering the interreligious dialogue within the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.
In the new legislature, Mr. Mauro was a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Budgets. In this capacity he was successful in supporting Italian small and medium enterprises in their access to structural funds for the period 2007/2013; he issued the written declaration “On the Use of Eurobonds as a New Strategy to Support Growth”; and, as Rapporteur, he was able to obtain an increased TEN-T (Trans-European Network of transport) budget.
As a MEP he was actively involved in promoting the third sector and in the application of the subsidiarity principle. Co-chairman of the Social Economy Intergroup, he promoted the European Federation of Food Banks with the written declaration “On supplying approved charities working to implement the European Food Aid programme for the most deprived citizens”
In 2007 he was re-elected, for the second part of his parliamentary mandate, as EP Vice-President and tasked by the EP President Hans Gert Pöttering with the “Relations with Churches and Religious Communities”. The resolution he proposed on “Serious events which compromise Christian communities' existence and those of other religious communities” for the protection of human dignity and human rights, was approved by a very large majority.
In 2009 he was appointed (for almost two years) as personal representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, with particular reference to discrimination against Christians.
In 2009 he was one of the EPP candidates running for the European Parliament Presidency.
In June 2009 he was elected for a second time to the European Parliament, with 158,730 votes, and appointed Head of People of Freedom party delegation within the EPP, also becoming a member of the Parliament’s Bureau.
During the new legislature (June 2009-February 2012), he was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Rapporteur for the proposed partnership for cooperation with third countries and the proposed partnership with Iraq.
During that period he was also a member of: the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis, the Special Committe on Policy Challenges and Budgetary Resources for a Sustainable EU after 2013, the Delegation for relations with the United States and the Delegation for relations with South Africa.
In March 2012 he became a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON Committee) , which has a responsibility for matters such as economic and monetary policies of the EU, taxation and competition policies, free movement of capital and the regulation of financial services.
Rapporteur on the Annual report 2011 of the European Investment Bank .
In February 2013 he was elected member of the Italian Senate on the list “With Monti for Italy”.
Publications
Difendiamo il futuro: Interventi per la libertà della scuola, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Collana "I Libri dello Spirito Cristiano" diretta da don Luigi Giussani, 1999
L’Europa sarà cristiana o non sarà, Edizioni Spirali, 2004
¿Que cultura? - V Congresso de cristianos y vida publica – 2004
Compagni di scuola. Genitori, insegnanti, studenti e sindacati per le generazioni del futuro, Edizioni Ares, 2004
Llamados a la libertad - VII Congresso de cristianos y vida publica, 2006
L'Europa al centro del problema in "Atlantide: migrazioni e società multiculturale", 2007
Il Dio dell'Europa, Edizioni Ares, 2007
Piccolo dizionario delle radici cristiane d’Europa (co-author with Elisabetta Chiappa), Edizioni Ares, 2007
Guerra ai cristiani (co-author with Vittoria Venezia and Matteo Forte), Lindau, 2010