Matteo Maria Zuppi (born 11 October 1955) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Bologna since 12 December 2015. He was previously an auxiliary bishop of Rome from 2012 to 2015.
He worked with the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay association devoted to ecumenism and conflict resolution.[4] Zuppi was one of the four mediators of the two-year-long Rome-based peace negotiations that resulted in the Rome General Peace Accords and helped end the civil war in Mozambique in 1992,[5][6] in recognition of which he was made an honorary citizen of that country.[7] Zuppi also traveled to Turkey in 1993 in an attempt to secure the release of two Italian tourists held by Kurdish rebels.[8]
Bishop and archbishop
On 31 January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named him an Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Rome and titular bishop of Villa Nova.[3] He was ordained a bishop on 14 April 2012 by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome. He was the auxiliary responsible for the city center, including the Trastevere neighborhood where Sant'Egidio is headquartered. There he led efforts to improve care for the poor and the elderly and developed outreach programs for drug addicts and gypsies.[7] He also established relations with traditionalists and celebrated a Pontifical Mass according to the Tridentine rite.[9]
In May 2018, he contributed an essay to the Italian translation of James Martin's Building a Bridge, Un ponte da costruire. He wrote that it was "useful for encouraging dialogue, as well as reciprocal knowledge and understanding, in view of a new pastoral attitude that we must seek together with our L.G.B.T. brothers and sisters" and that it will "help L.G.B.T. Catholics feel more at home in what is, after all, their church".[11][12]
On 24 May 2022, Pope Francis, having been presented by the Conference with three candidates for the post, chose Zuppi to serve a five-year term as president of the Episcopal Conference of Italy.[18][19]
In June 2022 Cardinal Zuppi was accused of hiding what critics called blessing a gay couple after their civil wedding. The editor of the Italian conservative Catholic online newspaper said the Archdiocese of Bologna made a number of false claims in a statement attempting to justify the ceremony. The "blessing" of Pietro Morotti and Giacomo Spagnolli took place in the presence of six priests at the church of San Lorenzo di Budrio. Cardinal Zuppi was not present, and had no part in the ceremony.[20]
Zuppi, Matteo Maria (2010). La Confessione, il perdono per cambiare. Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San Paolo. ISBN978-88-215-6821-3.
Zuppi, Matteo Maria (2013). Guarire le malattie del cuore: itinerario quaresimale. Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San Paolo. ISBN978-88-215-7649-2.
Zuppi, Matteo Maria (2019). Odierai il prossimo tuo come te stesso. Perché abbiamo dimenticato la fraternità. Riflessioni sulle paure del tempo presente. Piemme. ISBN978-8856672336.
^Gramellini, Massimo (14 September 1993). ""L' esercito turco ci tiene prigionieri in un albergo"; Ma dal governo arriva una "tiepida solidarietà", il ministero degli Esteri ribadisce: non dovevano fare nessuna trattativa". La Stampa.