HE Monsignor Ambrogio Spreafico ,(26 March 1950) called Bishop of Anagni-Alatri, was born in Garbagnate Monastero (Lecco) in the Archdiocese of Milan. He received his formation for the priesthood in the seminaries of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul (Barnabites), where he completed the entire curriculum studiorum from middle school to classical high school. He was ordained a priest on 12 April 1975. He was subsequently incardinated in the diocese of Rome. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, continuing his studies for specialization in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome, where in 1978 he obtained a Licentiate and in 1984 a Doctorate.
Early career
editHe has held the following positions: Professor of Old Testament at the ISSR of the Pontifical Gregorian University from 1978 to 1986; Professor of Hebrew at the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome (1978-1991); Professor of Hebrew at the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in the years 1984-85; from 1992 to 2008 Professor of Old Testament at the Theological Faculty of the Pontifical Urbaniana University; Rector Magnificus of the same University for three terms (1997-2000; 2001-2003; 2005-2008); President of the Conference of Rectors of the Pontifical Roman Universities (2000 - 2003) and Consultant of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples since 1998. He is the author of numerous publications and articles of a biblical and spiritual nature in various specialized magazines and dictionaries. Among modern languages, he knows and speaks German, English and French, and reads and understands Spanish and Portuguese.
He carried out his pastoral activity in the community of Sant'Egidio in Rome and in Germany, and in the parish of Santa Maria in Trastevere and San Filippo Neri alla Garbatella in Rome. On 10 April 1998 he was appointed Chaplain to the pope. He was elected coadjutor bishop of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino on 3 July 2008 and consecrated bishop in the Lateran Archbasilica on 26 July 2008 by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of His Holiness. On 28 July 2008 he began his ministry in the Diocese. On 18 October 2008, upon the death of His Excellency Msgr. Boccaccio, he became Bishop of the Diocese. President of the Episcopal Commission of the Italian Episcopal Conference for the Evangelization of Peoples and Cooperation between Churches from May 2010 to June 2015. On 4 May 2011, he was appointed by the Holy Father as a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Since January 2016, he has been President of the Episcopal Commission for Ecumenism and Dialogue. On 8 July 2020, he was appointed by the Holy Father as a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. Since 14 June 2021, he has been appointed President of the Regional Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious Dialogue (for the five-year period 2021-2025).
On 10 November 2022, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of the Diocese of Anagni-Alatri, uniting the two sees in persona Episcopi . He made his solemn entry into the Diocese on January 15, 2022 in Anagni, where the following Sunday, after his first visit to Alatri, he welcomed His Holiness Theodore II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria of Egypt and all Africa, as a guest of the Boniface VIII Academy to receive the Boniface VIII International Award.
On February 18, 2023, he was appointed by the Pope as a member of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
He is a Grand Officer of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and is Prior of the local delegation, which includes the entire territory of his two dioceses.
Following art. 11 of the Statute of the Bonifacian Academy, issued in 2003, as Bishop of Anagni-Alatri, he also assumed the honorary Presidency of the same Institution, thus succeeding Monsignor Lorenzo Loppa, who held it from the same year of its foundation until 2022.