Mario Enrico Delpini (born 29 July 1951) is an Italian Catholic prelate who has served as

Archbishop of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Amb ...

since 2017. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop and as the vicar general of the archdiocese.

Life

Mario Enrico Delpini was born in

Gallarate Gallarate (; Lombard language, Lombard: ''Galaraa'') is a city and ''comune'' of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people. It is the junction ...

Province of Varese The province of Varese () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The headquarters of AgustaWestland, the compa ...

, son of Antonio and Rosa Caruggi. Delpini grew up in Jerago con Orago and in 1975 was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood. He earned a degree in Italian Literature from the

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, colloquially the Catholic University of Milan () or simply the Cattolica, is an Italian private research university founded in 1921. Its main campus is located in Milan, Italy, with satellite campuses in B ...

and a licentiate in theology. Since 1975, Delpini taught the Italian language in the minor seminary of his native archdiocese and in 1989 he was named as the rector of the

minor seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

. In 1993, he was named as the dean of the seminary of Venegono Inferiore and in 2000 he became the rector of all seminaries of the Milan archdiocese. In 2006, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi placed him in charge of one of the archdiocesan zones. On 13 July 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named Delpini as the

Titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Stephaniacum, and Tettamanzi consecrated Delpini as a bishop on the following 23 September. Cardinal

Angelo Scola Angelo Scola (; born 7 November 1941) is an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Catholic Church, philosopher and theologian. He was Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan from 2011 to 2017. He served as Patriarch ...

made him as the

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the archdiocese in 2012. On 7 July 2017,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed him as the new Archbishop of Milan, where he was installed on 9 September. On 14 June 2023, he celebrated the state funeral of Silvio Berlusconi in the

Cathedral of Milan Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbi ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delpini, Mario 1951 births Living people People from the Province of Varese 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Archbishops of Milan