Archbishop of the Diocese of Lucca. In May 2021, he was elected President of the Episcopal Commission for the Family, Youth and Life, leaving his roles as a member of the Episcopal Commission for Education, Schools and Universities and as youth delegate of the Tuscan Episcopal Conference. He was born in Perugia, in the Archdiocese of Perugia–Città della Pieve, on 1 January 1964. After two years at university, he entered the seminary in Assisi, where he spent six years and attended the Theological Institute of Assisi, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in theology. He was ordained a deacon on 28 October 1990 and a priest on 29 September 1991. During his youth and his time at the seminary, he was particularly committed to the pastoral care of younger generations. After his ordination, he continued to pursue this passion by attending the Pontifical Salesian University and specialising in catechetics and youth ministry. From 1991 to 1995, he lived and worked in the parish of San Sisto. From 1995 to 2001, Bishops Antonelli and Chiaretti appointed him to work full-time with young people as head of the diocesan office, chaplain to several youth associations (AC and FUCI), coordinator of conscientious objectors and chaplain to the “S. Giuseppe Cafasso” community for prisoners run by the diocesan Caritas. In September 2001, he was appointed head of the National Youth Ministry Service of the CEI, a position he held for six years, marked by the World Youth Days in Toronto and Cologne and by the meeting of young Italians with Benedetto XVI in Loreto in September 2007 (Agorà dei giovani italiani). From December 2007 to October 2011, he was parish priest of the Pastoral Unit of Ponte San Giovanni. From June 2010, he served as Vicar General of the Diocese of Perugia–Città della Pieve. On 10 August 2014, he was ordained a bishop, serving as auxiliary to Cardinal Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti and as Titular Bishop of Termini Imerese. On 19 January 2019, he was appointed Archbishop of Lucca, where he began his ministry on 12 May of the same year.
Italy