Vittorio Francesco Viola

His Excellency, The Most Reverend Vittorio Francesco Viola O.F.M.
Secretary for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Appointed	27 May 2021
Predecessor	Arthur Roche
Other post(s)	Apostolic Administrator of Tortona (2021-)
Orders
Ordination	3 July 1993 by  Luca Brandolini
Consecration	7 December 2014 by  Domenico Sorrentino
Personal details
Born	Vittorio Francesco Viola (1965-10-04) 4 October 1965 (age 57) Biella, Italy
Previous post(s)	Custos for the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli (1999-2005) Custos for the Basilica di Santa Chiara (2005-14) Bishop of Tortona (2014-21)
Alma mater	Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy
Motto	In tuis te invenio sacramentis ("I discover You in Your sacraments")
Coat of arms

Vittorio Francesco Viola O.F.M. (born 4 October 1965) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the Roman Curia in May 2021 as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments with the rank of archbishop. A member of the Order of Friars Minor, he was bishop of Tortona from 2014 to 2021. His education specialized in liturgy; he has taught sacred liturgy at several institutions, managed the liturgy office of the Ecclesiastical Region of Umbria for almost two decades, and served as a member of the Italian Bishops Conference commission for liturgy.

Early years

Vittorio Francesco Viola was born on 4 October 1965 in Biella. He concentrated on science in high school and enrolled in university planning to study medicine, but after participating in Franciscan programs for young people he entered the Order of Friars Minor. ^[1] He studied at the Theological Institute of Assisi and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy in Rome, where he obtained his licentiate in liturgy. At the same university in 2000 he obtained his doctorate in sacred liturgy. ^[2]

On 14 September 1991 he took his solemn vows in the Order of Friars Minor in Santa Maria degli Angeli. He was ordained as a deacon on 4 July 1992 and as a priest on 3 July 1993 by Luca Brandolini, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome. ^[2]

After ordination, in the Order of Friars Minor he was definitor of the province of Umbria from 1999 to 2002, from 2003 to 2005, and from 2011 to 2014. He was Custodian of the Convent and the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli at the Porziuncola from 1999 to 2005 and Guardian of the Convent at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Assisi from 2005 to 2014. At the diocesan level he was responsible for the liturgical office of the Ecclesiastical Region of Umbria from 1997 to 2014, for the education office of the Diocese of Assisi from 2006 to 2008 and then of the Caritas office of that diocese from 2008 to 2014. ^[2] Because of his Caritas responsibilities, he helped organize and witnessed Pope Francis' lunch with the poor on his papal first visit to Assisi in October 2013, which Viola recalled was a surprising innovation at the time. ^{[1] [3]} He later told an interviewer that he developed his administrative skills at Caritas. ^[1] In a message for Lent in 2014 he wrote: "When the data of the economic crisis, the percentages of unemployment, the options of immigration policies become names and faces, then we cannot fail to feel called to approach with the concrete service and with the charity of the proclamation of the Gospel because the preferential option for the poor must be translated above all into a favored and priority religious attention." ^[4]

He has taught sacred liturgy at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy, the Theological Institute of Assisi, and the Institute of Religious Sciences in Assisi. ^[5]

Bishop

On 15 October 2014, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Tortona. ^[2] On 7 December he received his episcopal ordination in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi from Domenico Sorrentino, archbishop of Assisi with Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, Archbishop of Perugia, and Bishop Martino Canessa, his predecessor in Tortona, as co-consecrators. ^[1] As his episcopal motto he chose a Latin phrase from Saint Ambrose: In tuis te invenio sacramentis ("I discover you in your sacraments"). ^[6] On 14 December he took possession of the diocese. ^[5] When made a bishop he was the youngest Italian ordinary.^{[ citation needed ]}

He was a member of the national commission for the liturgy within the Italian Episcopal Conference. ^[2] As bishop, Viola said he tried to deepen the connections between liturgy and daily life: "They are not different things. The encounter with Christ that is fulfilled in fullness in the celebration of the sacraments is the same encounter with Christ that you live by welcoming your poor brother. It is always the same face of Christ that you meet." ^[1]

Curial service

Viola had a private audience with Pope Francis on 14 January 2021. ^[7] On 27 May 2021, Pope Francis appointed him secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, raising him to the rank of archbishop and giving him the title Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Tortona. ^[8] He became apostolic administrator of Tortona. ^[9]

Honors

On 16 September 2017, Viola was made an honorary conventual chaplain of the Knights of Malta. ^[10]

On 27 December 2017, he was made a commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. ^[11]

Works

• Presbiterato ed episcopato nel Sacramentarium Gelasianum Vetus (in Italian). Rome: Pontificium Athenaeum S. Anselmi de Urbe. 2000. ^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• Rinnova in loro l'effusione del tuo spirito: la spiritualità dei presbiteri a partire dall'ordinazione (in Italian). Todi: TAU Editrice. 2010. ISBN   978-88-87472-76-9. ^[13]

Notes

1. Based on his doctoral thesis "Comple, Domine, in sacerdotibus tuis ministerii tui summam: presbiterato ed episcopato nel Sacramentarium Gelasianum Vetus. Per textuum euchologicorum philologiam, ad liturgicam theologiam", devoted to ordination prayer found in the Gelasian Sacramentary. ^[12]

References

1. Cardinale, Gianni (27 May 2021). "Culto divino, Roche prefetto". Avvenire (in Italian). Retrieved 30 May 2021.
2. "Rinunce e Nomine, 15.10.2014" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
3. "Pope Francis urges Church to focus on helping poor". BBC News. 4 October 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
4. "Un frate francescano, Vittorio Viola, è il nuovo vescovo di Tortona: l'addio di Canessa". Oggi Cronaca (in Italian). 15 October 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
5. "S. Ecc.za Rev.ma P. Vittorio Francesco Viola o.f.m., Arcivescovo-Vescovo emerito di Tortona, Amministratore Apostolico". Diocese of Tortona (in Italian). Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
6. "Lo stemma vescovile". Diocese of Tortona (in Italian). Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
7. "Le Udienze, 14.01.2021" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
8. "Rinunce e Nomine, 27.05.2021" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
9. "S.E.R. Mons. Vittorio Francesco Viola". Chiesa Cattolica Italiana (in Italian). Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
10. "Consegna delle insegne di Cappellano al Vescovo di Tortona Mons. Viola". L'Ordine di Malta in Italia (in Italian). 10 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
11. "Viola Padre Vittorio Francesco". Presidenza della Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 30 May 2021.
12. "Congregazione del Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti - nomine". Pontifico Ateneo Anselmo. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
13. "Rinnova in loro l'effusione del tuo spirito". TAU Editrice (in Italian). Retrieved 30 May 2021.

External links

• "Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, O.F.M." Catholic Hierarchy. ^{[self-published]}