Pope Francis appointed Father Saverio Cannistrà, former superior general of the barefoot Carmelites, as the new Archbishop of Pisa, the Italian city where the Tower of Pisa is, famous for his inclination.
When giving the news of the appointment, the current superior of the barefoot Carmelites, the Spanish priest Miguel Márquez Calle, said that “we welcome this news with a sense of obedience of faith, accompanying Father Saverio.”
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
In one carta Published on the Archdiocese website of Pisa, the elected archbishop comments that he accepted his appointment “in the spirit of faith and obedience, aware of my many limitations. I will try to perform this beautiful and great task in the only way I know: praying, meditating and listening to the Word of God. ”
“I remember a phrase from Santa Teresa de Jesús, my mother in Carmel, who said: ‘Obedience gives strength’. I think that many of us have had this experience: grace does not abandon who is put at the service of God’s project, on the contrary, it overflows, fills and makes us able to do what intelligence can understand or human capacity can perform, ”he said.
He also said that he is “happy to have been sent to Pisa, a city that I love, where I studied, discovered my religious vocation and was ordered priest.”
The elected archbishop happens in office to Mons. Giovanni Paolo Benotto, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Francis after having turned 75, the retirement age of the bishops, on September 23, 2024.
Who is the new archbishop of Pisa, the city of the famous inclined tower?
Mons. Saverio Cannistrà was born in Catanzaro (Italy) on October 3, 1958. After obtaining a Bachelor of Roman Philology at the Scuola Normale Superior of Pisa, he conducted work practices such as editor in an editorial.
On September 17, 1985, he entered the novitiate of the Italian province of Toscana of the Order of the Barefoot Carmelites and made his perpetual profession on September 14, 1990. He was ordained a priest on October 24, 1992.
He has occupied the following positions and has carried out various improvement studies: Doctorate in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (1998); Professor of Trinitarian Theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty and Institute of Teresianum Spirituality of Rome (1995-2003).
In 2007 he was elected member of the Presidency Council of the Italian Theological Association.
In the Tuscan province of the Barefoot Carmelites it has been: Provincial Counselor (1996-2002); Applicant and Student Master (1999-2008); Provincial (since 2008).
It was the general prepay (superior) of the order of the barefoot Carmelites between the years 2009 and 2021.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.