In 1961, Rigali earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In October 1961, he entered the graduate division of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, obtaining a Doctor of Canon Law degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1964. He also served as an assistant during the first two sessions (1962–1963) of the Second Vatican Council in Rome. Rigali returned to California in the summer of 1964, serving as an associate pastor at a parish in Pomona. Back to Rome, he studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy from 1964 to 1966 in preparation for his diplomatic work for the Vatican.
