Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. Mariano Crociata, the bishop of Noto, to be the new secretary general of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), a statement from the Vatican said on Thursday.
Crociata, 55, fills the post left vacant earlier this month when Msgr. Giuseppe Bettori was appointed to be the new archbishop of Florence, in place of Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, who was recently named chairman of the Pontifical Conference for the Family.
The new CEI secretary general is the first ever to have come from a southern diocese.
Born in Castelvetrano near Trapani, Sicily, Crociata was ordained as a priest in 1979 and has been bishop of Noto since 2007.
A graduate of the Gregorian University of Rome, Crociata ran the theology of religions department at Palermo's prestigious Theological School and has organized a number of conferences including many on Islam.
Well informed sources said Crociata was nominated on a direct recommendation of CEI chairman Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who took over the CEI helm last year.
