Bishop Mario Delpini is to be the new Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milan succeeding Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Vatican has announced today (7 July).
Cardinal Scola, the runner up to Francis in the 2013 conclave, handed in his resignation last November, on reaching the age of 75. He is likely to step down from his position in September, meaning that Bishop Delpini will assume his role as head of Europe’s largest diocese at the start of the new pastoral year.
Bishop Delpini - who is known as ‘Don Mario’ - has a very good knowledge of the Milan Archdiocese, a seat known for its prestige and administrative complexity – numbering over 1,100 parishes and around five-and-a-half million faithful.
He was born in Gallarate, Lombardy where he studied before entering the seminary in 1967. He was made priest in 1975, after which he taught ancient Greek and patristics in various Milanese seminaries.
In 2007 he was made auxiliary bishop of Milan and in 2012, Cardinal Scola chose him to become his number two by making him vicar general of Milan.
The Italian Vatican expert, Andrea Tornielli, says that “Don Mario” is a “choice of continuity but also one that is original.”
Of “continuity” because he has worked closely with the last three heads of the archdiocese: Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Cardinal Tettamanzi and, lastly, Cardinal Scola. This makes him very much an “inside man”, despite some priests calling for someone from outside.
However, the “originality” which Tornielli believes Delpino will bring to the Milanese archdiocese is because he has lived “his entire life as priest and bishop in the diocese of Milan,” adding that “the last time this happened was more than half a century ago.”
Delpini has been described as a “sober man, gentle but also determined” and, in the past, has denounced “sly priests” that are too “preoccupied by worldly things” and who “neglect the more habitual services of the exercises of the ministry. He lives with retired
He is also known to have a good relationship with many of the archdiocese’ priests, something which seems to be key in Francis’ choice of appointments.
A similar choice was made with Angelo De Donatis, the vicar of Rome. De Donatis was also an auxiliary bishop and known for his good rapport with the Eternal City’s priests.
In 1998 “don Mario” published a book entitled “Reverend, what manners! Small Pastoral Etiquette” in which he called for the clergy to free themselves the “weights of a certain kind of clericalism and managerial efficiency.”
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