Francesco Ielpo new Custos of the Holy Land
Leo XIV has approved the election of the new leader of the Franciscan presence in the Holy Places, following in the footsteps of the saint of Assisi. Italian, 55 years old, the new custos takes over from Francesco Patton who has reached the end of his mandate. For the Minister General of the Friars Minor Conventual Massimo Fusarelli, "The particular context of conflict and violence” in the Holy Land and in the Middle East “makes our mission in these places even more urgent.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Leo XIV has confirmed the election of friar Francesco Ielpo as the new Custos of the Holy Land, that is, the provincial minister for the Province of the Friars Minor Conventual who has carried out his ministry in Jerusalem and in the Holy Places for more than 800 years, following in the footsteps of the order’s founder.
Italian, 55, Ielpo takes over from friar Francesco Patton, who has led the Custody since 2016 and cannot be reappointed by statute.
The new Custos comes from the Province of the Friars Minor of Northern Italy. Born in Basilicata, he grew up in Buscate, in the province and diocese of Milan.
He took the Franciscan habit in 1993, took his vows in 1998, and was ordained a priest on 10 June 2000.
In the last three years, he has held the positions of delegate of the Custos of the Holy Land in Italy and president of the Holy Land Foundation.
In 2013-2016, he served in Milan as the commissioner of the Holy Land of Lombardy and, later, of all Northern Italy, a task that saw him accompany many pilgrims to Jerusalem in recent years.
The Custos of the Holy Land has his seat in Saint Saviour’s Monastery, in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, and maintains the title of Guardian of Mount Zion, with reference to the holy place of the Cenacle where the Franciscans resided early on.
Its jurisdiction includes the Friars Minor Conventual of the Middle East (Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria) as well as monasteries linked to the Holy Land located in various countries of the world (Argentina, Greece, Italy, Spain, United States).
It also coordinates the 66 commissariats and 31 vice-commissariats of the Holy Land in 51 countries, which promote pilgrimages to Jerusalem and support the pastoral activities of the friars in the service of Christians of the Holy Land.
In a letter sent to the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land following the election, the Minister General of the Conventual Franciscans, Friar Massimo Fusarelli, stressed the very delicate moment in which Brother Ielpo is called to this ministry.
“The particular context of conflict and violence that violates the dignity of human life precisely in the Holy Land and in the Middle East, especially of the smallest and most defenceless, makes our mission in these places even more urgent and ‘martyr-like’,” writes Brother Fusarelli.
“It calls us back to our vocation as witnesses and workers of reconciliation and peace. This very situation helps us overcome partial human visions and concentrate on what this fundamental mission requires.”
“On behalf of the Church of the Order,” the minister general writes to the friars of the Holy Land, “I thank you for your testimony, which makes you stay in the Holy Land, alongside and with the people, as brothers and minors and not as mercenaries who flee.”
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03/11/2017 14:02
02/11/2021 16:14
