Course Facilitator Details

Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

His Excellency Bishop Paolo Martinelli OFM Cap. Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia (Catholic Church in the UAE, Oman and Yemen) His Excellency Bishop Paolo Martinelli OFM Cap., was born on 22 October 1958 in Milan, Italy. At the age of twenty, he joined the Capuchin order and made his religious profession on 8 September 1980. He studied theology in Milan (1980-1985) and was ordained a priest on 7 September 1985. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University (1988-1993) where he obtained a licentiate in fundamental theology (1990) and subsequently a doctorate in theology (1993) with a thesis on the thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar. He is a member of the faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (since 1992 ) and at the Pontifical University of Antonianum (since 1993), where he was also the Dean of the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality (2004-2014). He continues to teach in these Universities as visiting Professor even to date. Since 2006 he was the Consultor of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Since 2009, the Consultor of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. Since 2012, he has been a Consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On 24 May 2014, the Holy Father Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Martinelli as the auxiliary bishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Milan and titular bishop of Musti di Numidia. He was ordained bishop in the Cathedral in Milan on 28 June 2014. He chose as his episcopal motto, “Gloria Dei vivens homo”. In the Archdiocese of Milan, he has been the Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated Life since 2018. Monsignor Paolo Martinelli was a member of the Italian Bishops Conference since 2015 and was elected the President of the Episcopal Commission for the Clergy and Consecrated Life of the conference in 2021. On 1 May 2022, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Paolo Martinelli, as the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia. Bishop Paolo Martinelli was installed as the Apostolic Vicar on 2 July 2022. Bishop Paolo is presently the Synod Father in the Universal Synod on Synodality. Bishop Martinelli has also authored and edited several books and articles on Theology, Spirituality, and other various topics in the Church.