Termination of the office of apostolic administrator sede vacante of the exarchate for Ukrainian Catholic faithful of Byzantine rite resident in Italy and appointment of apostolic exarch

The Holy Father has terminated the office of apostolic administrator sede vacante of the exarchate for Ukrainian Catholic faithful of Byzantine rite resident in Italy, in the person of Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome.

The Holy Father has appointed as apostolic exarch for Ukrainian Catholic faithful of Byzantine rite resident in Italy Bishop Paulo Dionisio Lachovicz, transferring him from the titular see of Egnazia.

Curriculum vitae

Bishop Paulo Dionisio Lachovicz was born on 2 July 1946 in Pombas, Brazil, in the archieparchy of São João Batista em Curitiba of the Ukrainians. He entered the Basilian order, gave his religious vows on 30 March 1970, and was ordained a priest on 8 December 1972 in Iracema-Itaiópolis, in Brazil. He was awarded a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Saint Anselm University in Rome and completed his studies in philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

He held various pastoral and formative roles in Brazil, in particular as rector of the seminary and the Institute of Philosophy in Curitiba. He was sent to Ukraine in 1991, and was appointed as director of the Brazilian Institute of Zolochiv in 1994, where he edited various publications and articles. From 1996 to 2004 he was proto-archimandrite of the Basilian Order of Saint Josephat, and at the end of his term he was appointed as rector of the major seminary of the Order in Bruchovytzi, Ukraine.

He was elected Bishop of the Major Archiepiscopal Ukrainian Greek Catholic Curia on 21 December 2005, and received episcopal consecration on 26 February 2006 in Prudentopolis in Brazil by His Beatitude Cardinal Lyubomir Husar.

On 19 January 2009 he was appointed as apostolic visitor for Ukrainian faithful of Byzantine rite resident in Italy and in Spain.

 

Appointment of Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins

The Holy Father has appointed as Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., until now apostolic administrator sede vacante of the same circumscription, transferring him from the titular see of Verbe.

Curriculum vitae

His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa was born on 21 April 1965 in Cologno al Serio, in the diocese and province of Bergamo. He entered the minor seminary of the Franciscan province of Cristo Re, in Bologna, in September 1976, and on 5 September 1984 he began his noviciate in the convent of La Verna. He gave his provisional vows in La Verna on 7 September 1985 and his perpetual vows in Bologna on 14 October 1989. After completing the first cycle of philosophical and theological studies, he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Pontifical Antonianum Athenaeum of Rome. On 27 January 1990 he was ordained a deacon and on 15 September he received priestly ordination in the Cathedral of Bologna from His Eminence Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.

Upon arriving at the Custody of the Holy Land on 7 October 1990, he completed his specialist studies at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem in 1993. He was subsequently professor of Biblical Hebrew at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences of Jerusalem.

He began his service in the Custody of the Holy Land on 2 July 1999. On 9 May 2001 he was appointed as Guardian of the Convent of Saints Simeon and Anna in Jerusalem. He was occupied in the pastoral care of Catholic faithful of Hebrew expression, and was appointed patriarchal vicar from 2005 to 2008.

The Definitor General of the Order of Friars Minor elected him as Custos of the Holy Land and guardian of Mount Zion in May 2004, an office he held until April 2016.

On 24 June 2016 the Holy Father Francis appointed him as titular archbishop of Verbe and apostolic administrator sede vacante of the patriarchal diocese of Jerusalem of the Latins. On 10 September he was received episcopal consecration in the Cathedral of Bergamo by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.

He is a member of the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

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