Interview with the Bishop of Terni – Narni – Amelia Msgr. Francesco Soddu

by Don Francesco Marruncheddu

Sardinia expressed, at the beginning of January 2022, a new bishop, Msgr. Francesco Soddu, until last year director of the Italian Caritas, but priest of the Archdiocese of Sassari, from which no new bishops had "emerged" for 40 years. And for the first time after many decades, a Sardinian bishop is destined for a Church outside the island, that of Terni – Narni – Amelia, in Umbria. A fact of notable historical and ecclesial significance. 

How did you understand the surprise that Pope Francis gave you in appointing you Bishop at the end of a long journey in Caritas? What feelings went through you when you heard this news?

Faced with such a great task I felt the gravity of the responsibility, entrusting my person and my apostolate to the most holy Mary, Mother of God and of the Church. But immediately  I was aware of being able to share this responsibility with those who I will have the pleasure of meeting and getting to know, in this significant time of grace characterized by the synodal path of the Church. The Lord, through the apostolic ministry of the Pope, entrusts us to each other: to us is the task of making his charity germinate and cultivate it in all our attitudes.

What is Caritas Italiana today?

It is an educational commitment that also passes through the concreteness of facts.  Caritas has an attentive eye, ready to grasp every request, every change in the territory, which it knows, interprets and animates at the same time. It is a constant mission of listening and action, it is a complex commitment but Caritas is not alone in this mission: it is part of a living Church in every diocese and in the parishes, antennas, ears and hearts that work alongside people every day . How many hands have been extended towards the world in these five decades: workers, priests, and many, many volunteers to share efforts and hopes, restore dignity. Promoting the value and dignity of every human being is part of the pedagogical mission of Caritas, aimed at the entire community and in particular young people, bearers of hope and energy for the future. 

Umbria is the cradle of the Franciscan experience par excellence, and you already have the "right" name: Francesco, or rather, Francesco Antonio. How do you feel about having to exercise your episcopal ministry in the land of Francis of Assisi? 

I feel strongly Franciscan for many reasons. It is a great honor for me to be a pastor in an entirely Franciscan Church and region; in a particular way in the diocese of Terni, where the other great Franciscan, Saint Anthony of Padua, by virtue of the martyrdom of the first Franciscans, struck and  enlightened by this example, he also decided to become a follower of Francis of Assisi. In particular, my name, Francesco Antonio, collects this beautiful legacy that from Francesco, passing through Antonio, reaches the present day. Being bishop of the diocese of Terni - Narni - Amelia does nothing but strengthen and further corroborate on the one hand my being "Franciscan to the core", on the other hand the feeling of being close to me, present, in support of my mission, these two great saints in the Franciscan land par excellence, Umbria, where I am now called to serve the Church. 

You are Sardinian and become bishop of a diocese outside the island. It hasn't happened for a long time that a priest from our land was called to an episcopal ministry outside Sardinia. How do you prepare to live this commitment and this new ministry in such a different sister land?

Working in Caritas, being with the poor has formed me, continues to form me and will remain my compass also in this new role that the Holy Father has entrusted to me.  This is precisely what I ask the Lord: to help me to always remain "at the school of the poor", among the people, capable of listening to their needs and strengthening paths of meeting and sharing,  in the current context, characterized by the pandemic, by radical phenomena of transformation and change, at the service of the synodal path of the Churches in Italy. The pandemic reminded us of this and Pope Francis with the Fratelli tutti he reiterated it: we are one human family, all in the same boat, despite the diversity and specificity of the individual contexts in which we operate.