‘In persona episcopi’: Pope Francis continues to consolidate Italian dioceses
March 06, 2023
Continuing a trend that has accelerated in recent years, Pope Francis on March 4 united two Italian dioceses in persona episcopi [in the person of the bishop].
While continuing to govern the Archdiocese of Matera-Irsina (which was formed from a 1976 diocesan merger), Archbishop Antonio Giuseppe Caiazzo will also govern the Diocese of Tricarico.
It was the third such union in 2023, and at least the seventeenth such union since 2019.
Such arrangements for Italy’s 227 dioceses have become increasingly routine:
- In February 2019, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Tivoli and Palestrina) in the person of Bishop Mauro Parmeggiani.
- In April 2020, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Nuoro and Lanusei) in the person of Bishop Antonio Mura.
- In June 2020, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Camerino-San Severino Marche and Fabriano-Matelica) in the person of Archbishop Francesco Massara.
- In December 2020, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Modena-Nonantola and Carpi) in the person of Archbishop Erio Castellucci.
- In February 2021, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Teano-Calvi and Alife-Caiazzo) in the person of Bishop Giacomo Cirulli.
- In May 2021, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Pozzuoli and Ischia) in the person of Bishop Gennaro Pascarella.
- On June 19, 2021, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello and Grosseto) in the person of Bishop Gianni Roncari, OFM Cap.
- On June 26, 2021, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and Foligno) in the person of Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino.
- In July 2021, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Oristano and Ales-Terralba) in the person of Archbishop Roberto Carboni, OFM Conv.
- On February 12, 2022, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Civitavecchia-Tarquinia and Porto-Santa Rufina) in the person of Bishop Gianrico Ruzza.
- On February 19, 2022, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Turin and Susa) in the person of then Archbishop-elect Roberto Repole. This diocesan consolidation was remarkable because at the time of his appointment, Father Repole had no experience in governing a diocese—and now he is responsible for two.
- In May 2022, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Gubbio and Città del Castello) in the person of Bishop Luciano Paolucci Bedini.
- In July 2022, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Siena-Colle di Val d’Elsa-Montalcino and Montepulciano-Chiusi-Pienza) in the person of Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudice.
- In November 2022, Pope Francis united two Italian dioceses (Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino and Anagni-Alatri) in the person of Bishop Ambrogio Spreafico.
- In January 2023, Pope Francis remarkably united two Italian archdioceses (Pesaro and Urbino-Urbania-Sant’Angelo) in the person of Archbishop Sandro Salvucci. The prelate is now simultaneously the metropolitan archbishop of two ecclesiastical provinces—much as if the same prelate were simultaneously Archbishop of Omaha and Archbishop of Kansas City, and thus the metropolitan archbishop for all the dioceses in Nebraska as well as all the dioceses in Kansas.
- In February 2023, Pope Francis united three Italian dioceses (Teano-Calvi, Alife-Caiazzo, and Sessa Aurunca) in the person of Bishop Giacomo Cirulli; he had governed the first two dioceses concurrently since 2021.
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Posted by: feedback -
Mar. 06, 2023 7:51 AM ET USA
In my opinion, this will only lead to the growth of random lay employment and the bishop's authority delegated to persons without proper sense of responsibility for souls before God. The bigger the bureaucracy - the greater possibility for corruption.
