Br. Francisco Neri

The Order of Capuchin Friars Minor received with joy and gratitude the news of Pope Francis’s decision to call our brother and General Councilor, Br. Francesco Neri to episcopal service. By his appointment we infer the Pope’s and the Church’s recognition of the adept and generous service he has given in so many ways, and for which he has won the love and esteem of many around him. Through his appointment as Archbishop of Otranto, Apulia in Italy, we acknowledge his call to a greater service in the Church, and we pray for him as he takes on this new capacity. As we scroll through the following biographical notes, we thank the Lord for the gift of such a generous brother.

Br. Francesco, a Capuchin friar from the Province of Apulia, was born in 1959 in Catanzaro in the nearby region of Calabria. After graduating with a law degree in 1983, he entered the Order and made his profession in 1987 via the hands of General Minister Flavio R. Carraro in Pietrelcina. In 1991 he was ordained a priest in Bari. He completed his studies in 1998 with a doctorate in dogmatic theology at the Gregorian University in Rome with Fr. Jacques Dupuis, SJ and Fr. Luis Ladaria, SJ. He has since held many positions within the order as well as many other pastoral positions. He was a provincial councilor for six years, elected provincial vicar and finally served as provincial minister from 2006-2012, during which he was also a member of the joint commission of the Apulian Episcopal Conference – for Consecrated Life and as president of CISM in the Apulian region. He gained a sense of the worldwide and multicultural scope of the Order while a student at the International College of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, and again when he was appointed rector there from 2017-2018, just before he was elected to the current General Council. He has served as a delegate to Plenary Council VII (Assisi 2004) and has participated in three General Chapters.

He also gained experience in formation, and in cultural and academic spheres. He was appointed master for the students and then served as director at the Theological Institute “Santa Fara” in Bari from 2015-2017. There, he was also vice-dean of the theological faculty, and a lector in Christology, Trinitarian Theology, Anthropology and Sacraments of Initiation. He’s had a number of publications and for two years was director of “Italia Francescana” the magazine of the Italian Conference of Capuchin Provincial Ministers. He is fluent in English and German and has some grasp of both French and Spanish. He has also served as an assistant to local fraternities of the Secular Franciscan Order and Franciscan youth organizations.

Currently, he is on the General Council representing CimpCap and is the General Minister’s delegate for several fraternities dependent on the General Curia, including the Shrine of Loreto.