Bishop Antonio Suetta

Bishop Antonio Suetta, Bishop of Ventimiglia-San Remo, was born on November 25, 1962, in Loano, in the province of Savona. After his secondary school leaving certificate he studied philosophy and theology at the seminaries of Albenga and of Genoa. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Albenga-Imperia on October 4, 1986, in Albenga. He then obtained a licentiate in theology from the Lateran University and in 2009 defended his doctoral thesis in theology at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome. He served as parochial vicar of the parish of Ceslo-Arzeno d'Oneglia (1987-1996) and parish administrator of the same parish (1991-1994); parish administrator and subsequently parish priest of Caravonica (1995-1997); and parish priest and provost of Borgo Verezzi (1997-2009), while also serving as director of the diocesan Caritas. He was chaplain of the prisons of Imperia while serving as parochial vicar of San Giovanni in Oneglia, and was co-founder and, until 2009, president of the social cooperative Il Cammino, which helps young people in difficulty enter the world of work, including the rehabilitation of former drug users and former prisoners. He taught fundamental theology, ecclesiology and Mariology at the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences and, from 2003, the same subjects in the theology course at the major seminary. He has served as diocesan bursar from 2005, rector of the diocesan seminary of Albenga-Imperia from September 2011, and canon of the cathedral chapter from 2009. On January 25, 2014, he was appointed Bishop of Ventimiglia-San Remo, and he received episcopal ordination on March 1, 2014, at Ventimiglia.