Zuppi Matteo Maria

Matteo Maria Zuppi, fifth of six children, was born in Rome on 11 October 1955. A student at the Virgilio high school, in 1973 he met Andrea Riccardi, founder of Sant’Egidio, and began attending the Community and collaborating in its activities in favour of the marginalised, the elderly, immigrants, the homeless and victims of conflict. He also collaborated in ecumenical initiatives and interreligious dialogue. After graduating in Literature and Philosophy from La Sapienza University, he entered the seminary in Palestrina and studied Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University.

He was ordained a priest on 9 May 1981 for the clergy of Palestrina. Soon after, he was appointed vicar of the parish priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, succeeding him as parish priest of the Basilica in 2000. He held this position for ten years and is still known as ‘don Matteo’. Incardinated in Rome in 1988, he was also rector of the church of Santa Croce alla Lungara (1983-2012) and member of the presbyteral council (1995-2012). From 2000 to 2012 he was general ecclesiastical assistant of Sant’Egidio, with whom he had mediated for peace in Mozambique.

In 2010 he became parish priest of Saints Simon and Judas Thaddeus in Torre Angela. On 31 January 2012, he was appointed titular Bishop of Villanova and Auxiliary Bishop of Rome by Benedict XVI, receiving episcopal ordination on 14 April 2012.

On 27 October 2015, Pope Francis promoted him to the metropolitan see of Bologna, succeeding Cardinal Carlo Caffarra. He took possession of the cathedral on 12 December 2015 and in 2017 he welcomed the Pope to Bologna on the occasion of the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress. He participated in the Synod of Bishops on young people in 2018.

Pope Francis created and published him Cardinal in the Consistory of 5 October 2019, of the Title of Saint Egidio. On 24 May 2022, he was appointed President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. On 2 June 2023, the Holy Father appointed him Judge of the Court of Cassation of the Vatican City State, effective 1 January 2024. Zuppi has embodied the role of mediator over time, so much so that he was chosen by Pope Francis for the delicate diplomatic mission between Russia and Ukraine in 2023.

He is a member of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development and of the Office for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.