Bishop Paolo Martinelli

Rev. Fr. Paolo Martinelli, O.F.M. Cap., was born in Milan on October 22, 1958. After completing compulsory schooling, he chose to study agriculture, obtaining a diploma as an agricultural technician. On September 25, 1978, he entered the Capuchin postulancy in Cerro Maggiore (Milan), and on September 8, 1980, he made his first religious profession. From 1980 to 1985, he pursued the institutional theology curriculum in Milan at the *Studio Teologico San Francesco d’Assisi*, an institute affiliated with the Pontifical University Antonianum. He made his perpetual profession in Cerro Maggiore (Milan) on December 23, 1984, and was ordained a priest on September 7, 1985. His first pastoral assignment involved providing spiritual guidance at the *Istituto della S. Famiglia* in Cesano Boscone (Milan); from 1988 to 1993, he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he earned a doctorate in Fundamental Theology with a thesis titled "The Mystery of Death in Hans Urs von Balthasar: The Paschal Mystery as Revelation of the Trinitarian Love of God." Fr. Martinelli conducts courses and seminars at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and in 2003, he was appointed "Extraordinary Professor" at the Institute of Spirituality (Antonianum) in Rome. On December 10, 2004, he was appointed Dean of that same Institute; he was subsequently reconfirmed in this role in 2005, 2008, and 2011. From October 2 to 23, 2005, he participated in the XI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops as an expert assistant to the special secretary (*Adiutor Secretarii specialis esperto*). On May 8, 2006, he was appointed a Consultor to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for a five-year term. Since January 2012, he has also served as a Consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was appointed *Adiutor Secretarii specialis* for the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held from October 5 to 26, 2008. Since December 2009, he has served as a Consultor to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.