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Pierbattista Pizzaballa
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Pierbattista Pizzaballa
Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM (Italian: [ˌpjɛrbatˈtista pittsaˈballa]; Latin: Petrus Baptista Pizzaballa; born 21 April 1965) is an Italian member of the Franciscan Order and a Roman Catholic cardinal who has been serving as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 6 November 2020.
After being received into the Franciscan Order in 1984, he spent his novitiate at the Franciscan Shrine of La Verna in Arezzo, Italy. In 1990, after having obtained a diploma in classical studies from the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Ferrara as well as a bachelor's degree in theology from the Pontifical University Antonianum and having been ordained a priest, he was called to service in the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, he went on to study Biblical Theology first at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum and then from 1995 to 1999 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He obtained a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became an assistant professor of Biblical Hebrew and Judaism at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in Jerusalem as well as the Studium Theologicum Jerosolymitanum.
At the same time, in 1999, Pizzaballa joined the Franciscans working at the Custody of the Holy Land founded in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1342, the Franciscans were officially declared by two papal bulls as the Catholic Church's custodians of the Christian Holy Places. In 2004, he was elected to the position of Custos of the Holy Land, the head of the Custody and all Franciscans in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and parts of Egypt. The title of Custos (guardian) likewise goes back to St. Francis. Pizzaballa was reelected twice as Custos and served in this position for twelve years until 2016.
In 2016, he was ordained a bishop in Italy and appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. In 2020, he became the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, the head of Christianity's mother church including the areas of Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus. Three years later, in 2023, he was made a cardinal by Pope Francis. Following Francis' death, he was considered papabile (a possible candidate to be elected pope by the College of Cardinals) at the 2025 papal conclave despite his relatively young age.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio, Bergamo, Italy, son of Pietro Pizzaballa and Maria Maddalena Tadini. He has two brothers and is the nephew of Pierluigi Pizzaballa, a former professional Italian football player (goalkeeper).
Growing up in the small hamlet of Castel Liteggio, Pizzaballa witnessed a "simple and authentic" lifestyle which he describes with the following words: "It was a simple and genuine world, and a sober and happy life." Motivated by a desire to be like a much-loved local priest, Don Pèrsec, Pizzaballa felt a vocation to be a priest already as a child at the age of nine. In September 1976, he entered the Franciscan Le Grazie minor seminary in Rimini at the age of 11 and eight years later, in September 1984, the Franciscan novitiate in La Verna. He made his first vows there on September 7, 1985, and his perpetual vows in Bologna on October 4, 1989. He was ordained a priest on September 15, 1990, in the Cathedral of Bologna by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.
Pizzaballa obtained his diploma in classical studies at the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Ferrara and went on to earn his bachelor's degree in theology at the Pontifical University Antonianum. As a 25-year-old priest he was sent to the Holy Land where he studied Biblical Theology at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem and learned biblical as well as modern Hebrew. Besides his native Italian, Pizzaballa today speaks Hebrew, Latin, English, and Arabic.
He was then sent to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1995 to 1999 to deepen his understanding of Jewish religious thought where he was the only Christian studying Scripture at that time but said it was “very interesting” because it was the first time that he found himself in a “non-Christian context.” In 1998, he became assistant professor of Biblical Hebrew and Judaism at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in Jerusalem and the Studium Theologicum Jerosolymitanum. He was responsible for the translation of the Roman Missal into Hebrew and its publication in 1995. He also translated liturgical texts into Hebrew.
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Pierbattista Pizzaballa
Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM (Italian: [ˌpjɛrbatˈtista pittsaˈballa]; Latin: Petrus Baptista Pizzaballa; born 21 April 1965) is an Italian member of the Franciscan Order and a Roman Catholic cardinal who has been serving as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 6 November 2020.
After being received into the Franciscan Order in 1984, he spent his novitiate at the Franciscan Shrine of La Verna in Arezzo, Italy. In 1990, after having obtained a diploma in classical studies from the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Ferrara as well as a bachelor's degree in theology from the Pontifical University Antonianum and having been ordained a priest, he was called to service in the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, he went on to study Biblical Theology first at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum and then from 1995 to 1999 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He obtained a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became an assistant professor of Biblical Hebrew and Judaism at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in Jerusalem as well as the Studium Theologicum Jerosolymitanum.
At the same time, in 1999, Pizzaballa joined the Franciscans working at the Custody of the Holy Land founded in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1342, the Franciscans were officially declared by two papal bulls as the Catholic Church's custodians of the Christian Holy Places. In 2004, he was elected to the position of Custos of the Holy Land, the head of the Custody and all Franciscans in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and parts of Egypt. The title of Custos (guardian) likewise goes back to St. Francis. Pizzaballa was reelected twice as Custos and served in this position for twelve years until 2016.
In 2016, he was ordained a bishop in Italy and appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. In 2020, he became the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, the head of Christianity's mother church including the areas of Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus. Three years later, in 2023, he was made a cardinal by Pope Francis. Following Francis' death, he was considered papabile (a possible candidate to be elected pope by the College of Cardinals) at the 2025 papal conclave despite his relatively young age.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio, Bergamo, Italy, son of Pietro Pizzaballa and Maria Maddalena Tadini. He has two brothers and is the nephew of Pierluigi Pizzaballa, a former professional Italian football player (goalkeeper).
Growing up in the small hamlet of Castel Liteggio, Pizzaballa witnessed a "simple and authentic" lifestyle which he describes with the following words: "It was a simple and genuine world, and a sober and happy life." Motivated by a desire to be like a much-loved local priest, Don Pèrsec, Pizzaballa felt a vocation to be a priest already as a child at the age of nine. In September 1976, he entered the Franciscan Le Grazie minor seminary in Rimini at the age of 11 and eight years later, in September 1984, the Franciscan novitiate in La Verna. He made his first vows there on September 7, 1985, and his perpetual vows in Bologna on October 4, 1989. He was ordained a priest on September 15, 1990, in the Cathedral of Bologna by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.
Pizzaballa obtained his diploma in classical studies at the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Ferrara and went on to earn his bachelor's degree in theology at the Pontifical University Antonianum. As a 25-year-old priest he was sent to the Holy Land where he studied Biblical Theology at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem and learned biblical as well as modern Hebrew. Besides his native Italian, Pizzaballa today speaks Hebrew, Latin, English, and Arabic.
He was then sent to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1995 to 1999 to deepen his understanding of Jewish religious thought where he was the only Christian studying Scripture at that time but said it was “very interesting” because it was the first time that he found himself in a “non-Christian context.” In 1998, he became assistant professor of Biblical Hebrew and Judaism at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in Jerusalem and the Studium Theologicum Jerosolymitanum. He was responsible for the translation of the Roman Missal into Hebrew and its publication in 1995. He also translated liturgical texts into Hebrew.
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