Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino

Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino

Born on: May 16, 1948   

BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE PREPARED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE OF THE DIOCESE OF ASSISI – NOCERA UMBRA – GUALDO TADINO

His gaze fixed on the horizon, with the Gospel in his hands, to build—step by step—a missionary, outward-reaching Church, stripped of all superfluous trappings and close to the most vulnerable. This is how Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino—bishop emeritus of the dioceses of Assisi–Nocera Umbra–Gualdo Tadino and Foligno—appears to his collaborators, priests, lay groups, and all those whom, as a shepherd, he has met and continues to meet in his ministry. An episcopal ministry that began 25 years ago when, on March 19, 2001, he was ordained by Saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica. Born at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, in Boscoreale (Naples), in the Diocese of Nola, on May 16, 1948, he completed his secondary education at the Episcopal Seminary of Nola and the Regional Seminary of Salerno, and his theological studies in Rome as a student at the Almo Collegio Capranica, earning a doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a degree in Political Science from La Sapienza University of Rome. With a strong vocation for study, in-depth analysis, and reading, he is a voracious reader of books, historical texts, and theological essays, as well as works on sociology, economics, and politics. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Nola on June 24, 1972, he held various positions: parish vicar at the parish of Maria SS. della Stella in Nola;  pastor of St. George the Martyr in Liveri; assistant to the Catholic Action Workers’ Movement; and religion teacher at the state-recognized Episcopal High School in Nola. He subsequently served as director of the Catechetical Office, episcopal vicar for Evangelization and Culture, canon-theologian, and member of the Presbyteral Council and the College of Consultors. In 1975, he founded the “San Paolino” Diocesan Library at the Seminary of Nola, based on an 18th-century library, transforming it into a center of culture and dialogue. The library encompasses various fields of study, ranging from philosophy and literature to science and social sciences, and publishes proceedings. Among other initiatives, the Nola-Vesuvian Observatory focuses on social promotion, the rule of law, and the fight against organized crime. Of particular significance is the establishment of the Center for Studies and Documentation on Paolino of Nola, which has produced a series of scholarly volumes on the life and works of this Church Father within the context of his era and his correspondents. He served as director of the “Duns Scoto” Higher Institute of Religious Sciences (Nola) and as a professor at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, St. Thomas Aquinas Section, where he taught spiritual theology, theological anthropology, and the social doctrine of the Church. Within the same Theological Faculty, he promoted a permanent seminar on the “theology of lived experience,” using this expression to highlight an approach to theological research focused on the Christian lived experience, and in particular on the lived experience of the saints. Several of his books and articles reflect this approach. From 1992 to 2001, while continuing his theological teaching, he served at the Holy See in the First Section of the Secretariat of State. He was a member of the Pontifical Theological Academy.  On February 17, 2001, Saint John Paul II appointed him Archbishop-Prelate of Pompeii. In Pompeii, he spent a brief but intense period marked by the Year of the Rosary, during which he stood alongside Saint John Paul II as the latter signed the Apostolic Letter *Rosarium Virginis Mariae*. He then welcomed the Pope to Pompeii at the end of that special year. On August 2, 2003, he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. On November 19, 2005, he was appointed bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino (retaining his personal title of archbishop) and took possession of the diocese on February 11, 2006. In the City of St. Francis, he welcomed Pope Benedict XVI twice: on June 17, 2007, for a visit to the diocese, and on October 27, 2011, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace, which in 1986 brought together St. John Paul II and religious leaders from around the world in the “Seraphic City.” He welcomed Pope Francis during his visits to Assisi: on October 4, 2013; August 4, 2016; September 20, 2016; October 3, 2020; and September 24, 2022. He served  as vice president of the Umbrian Episcopal Conference. As chairman of the committee for the cause of canonization of Giuseppe Toniolo, he is among the leading scholars on the figure of this great economist and leader of Catholic social engagement during the era of *Rerum Novarum*. He is convinced that Franciscan economic thought and the Franciscan tradition of the Monti di Pietà must be rediscovered to foster a more equitable and solidarity-based vision of the economy, in the spirit of the Gospel and in the tradition of the fraternity lived out by the early Christian communities. The model of the early communities leads him to outline a first path of pastoral renewal centered on small fraternities (the “families of the Gospel”) capable of responding to the situation of a Church tested by the crisis in social and family relationships. A crisis that, according to Monsignor Sorrentino’s vision as developed in the book *Crisis as Grace*, can lead to a new Christian spring. Still in the spirit of fraternity, in a book of 2021 he presents an economic vision inspired by the act performed by St. Francis of Assisi when he decided to strip himself of his worldly possessions to stand in solidarity with all those who have been stripped of their possessions and their dignity throughout history. This vision takes shape within the framework of the Sanctuary of the Renunciation, which Archbishop Sorrentino established in 2017—with the Holy Father’s blessing—within the monumental complex of the Bishop’s Palace and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore  in Assisi,  a site that witnessed that gesture and underscores its relevance today. In that same sanctuary, Archbishop Sorrentino on April 6, 2019 transferred the body of the recently canonized (September 7, 2025) St. Carlo Acutis on the occasion of the decree recognizing his heroic virtues, which permitted his veneration. On June 15, 2021, he presented the “International Francis of Assisi and Carlo Acutis Award for an Economy of Fraternity,” which aims to contribute to the process initiated by the Pope with *Economy of Francesco* and to support, each year, “generative” projects launched from the grassroots, especially in the world’s poorest regions. On March 25, 2026, he stepped down from diocesan service, becoming bishop emeritus of the dioceses of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and Foligno. He lives at the Fratelli Tutti Center, which he inaugurated in Foligno in 2022 for charitable and pastoral purposes. He devotes himself to new scholarly work, preaching, and missions in Italy and abroad, offering pastoral service within the diocese and beyond, depending  on needs and requests.