The Cathedral, as mother church of the Diocese of Milan, is the seat of the Chair of the Archbishop, from which he presides over liturgical celebrations and where he exercises his ministry as pastor and teacher. The Duomo is therefore the visible symbol of the unity of the entire Ambrosian Church gathering around its Archbishop.
On 7 July 2017 the Holy Father Francis appointed Monsignor Mario Delpini as Archbishop of Milan.
Biography
Monsignor Mario Delpini was born in Gallarate on 29 July 1951, the third of six children. He grew up in Jerago con Orago, in the parish of San Giorgio di Jerago (Varese). In 1967, he entered the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Milan in Venegono Inferiore and on 7 June 1975 was ordained priest in the Cathedral by then Archbishop Cardinal Giovanni Colombo.
From 1975 to 1987 he taught in the Minor Seminary of the Diocese, first in Seveso and then in Venegono Inferiore. In these years he obtained a degree in Literature from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, a license in Theology from the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, based in Milan, and a diploma in Theological and Patristic Sciences from the Augustinianum Institute in Rome. In 1989, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini first chose him as Rector of the Minor Seminary and, in 1993, as Rector of the Theological Quadrennium. In 2000 he was appointed Rector Major of the Seminaries of Milan. In 2006, leaving all the positions he held in the Seminary, he assumed that of Episcopal Vicar of Pastoral Zone VI (Melegnano).
On 13 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Milan. He received episcopal ordination on 23 September of the same year in the cathedral from Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi. His motto is “Plena est terra gloria eius” (the earth is full of his glory).
From 2007 to 2016 he was Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Lombardy and, within the framework of the Italian Episcopal Conference, he was a member of the Commission for Clergy and Consecrated Life.
In July 2012 he became Vicar General of Cardinal Angelo Scola and from September 2014 he was also appointed Episcopal Vicar for the continuing education of the clergy.
Appointed Archbishop of Milan on 7 July 2017, he took possession of the Diocese by proxy on 9 September, making his solemn entrance on 24 September, on the eve of the liturgical feast of St. Anátalo and of all the holy bishops of Milan.