Br. Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM Nominated Apostolic Administrator Jerusalem

Vatican City, 24 June 2016 – The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of H.B. Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in accordance with CIC 401 §1. Br. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM has been nominated Apostolic Administrator sede vacante, and will be ordained Archbishop, with the Titular See of Verbe. Archbishop Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio, Italy in 1965, gave his religious vows in 1989, and was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a Bachelors degree in theology from the Pontifical Antonianum University, Rome, and completed his studies in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem. He subsequently served as 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 in 1999 and in 2011 was appointed as Guardian of the Convent of Sts. Simeon and Anna in Jersualem. He served as patriarchal vicar from 2003 to 2008. The General Definitorium appointed him as Custos of the Holy Land and Guardian of Mount Zion in 2004, a role he fulfilled until April this year.