Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

Born on April 21, 1965, in Cologno al Serio in the diocese and province of Bergamo, he began formation with the friars of the province of Emilia Romagna, to which he still juridically belongs. He was ordained a priest on September 15, 1990, and entered into effective service of the Custody of the Holy Land in 1999. Upon completion of philosophical and theological studies, he received a bachelor's degree in theology on June 19, 1990, from the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. He completed his studies of specialization at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem, obtaining his license in biblical theology on June 21, 1993, and afterward received his master's degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He was a professor of modern Hebrew at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and Archeological Sciences in Jerusalem and has done pastoral work with the Hebrew-speaking faithful for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, was appointed Custos of the Holy Land for the first time in May of 2004, for a period of six years, and reconfirmed by the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor in May of 2010 for another three-year term.

On 24 June 2016, Pope Francis nominated him Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and made him titular archbishop of Verbe. On 10 September 2016, he was consecrated bishop.

In 2016, Pizzaballa joined the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and became its Pro Grand Prior and then Grand Prior upon appointment as Latin Patriarch. On 31 May 2017, he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

On 24 October 2020, Pizzaballa was appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope Francis.

He was created a cardinal by Pope Francis on September 30, 2023.

Featured photo:
Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads a prayer service on Mount Olivet on Palm Sunday, 2020 (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters via Vatican News)