Guido Marini, master of ceremonies of the Pope, is the new bishop of Tortona

Vatican News

Pope Francis has appointed his master of ceremonies, Mgr Guido Marini, bishop of Tortona, in the Piedmont region of Italy. The news was broadcast by the Press Office of the Holy See and announced by the Archbishop of Genoa, Marco Tasca, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Guard of Genoa, the original diocese of the new bishop, who succeeds Bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola. , recently called to the Vatican as secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship.

Monsignor Marini, 56, entered the seminary when Cardinal Giuseppe Siri was Archbishop of Genoa, was ordained a priest by Cardinal Giovanni Canestri (who was Bishop of Tortona for four years) and became its private secretary, as well as that of successive archbishops Dionigi Tettamanzi and Tarcisio Bertone.

Together with Tettamanzi he became master of the liturgical celebrations of the archdiocese, a position which was also confirmed by cardinals Tarcisio Bertone and Angelo Bagnasco. During this period, he created the “Collegium Laurentianum”, an association of volunteers for the service of order and reception in the cathedral.

After Cardinal Bertone arrived in Genoa, he was head of the archdiocese’s school office, spiritual director of the seminary where he taught canon law, then chancellor of the curia and prefect in charge of the cathedral.

In October 2007, Benedict XVI appointed him Master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Sovereign Pontiff, succeeding another Marini, Monsignor Piero, who had accompanied most of the long pontificate of Saint John Paul II.

Monsignor Guido Marini was the “director” of the liturgies of the pontificate of Pope Ratzinger, in Rome and during his travels around the world. At the time of Francis’ election in 2013, he devoted himself to the total service of the new Pope, interpreting his liturgical sensibility, sober and essential, with a mutual understanding that has lasted for more than eight years.

In January 2019, François also entrusted him with the responsibility of the choir of the Sistine Chapel, the Pontifical Music Chapel. Marini oversaw the production of the Statio Orbis of March 27, 2020, the pontiff’s personal prayer in an empty and soggy St. Peter’s Square, to invoke the end of the pandemic.