Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Filippo Ciampanelli as Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Eastern Chur-ches, who until now served as Counsellor of the Nunciature in the Section for Gen-eral Affairs of the Secretariat of State. Monsignor Ciampanelli is one of the individuals who drafted speeches for the Pope and became known worldwide during the last period of the Pope’s illness as he was one of the two persons responsible for reading the speeches on behalf of Francis.
Monsignor Ciampanelli was born on July 30, 1978, in Novara, Italy. He was ordained a priest on June 21, 2003, incardinated in the Diocese of Novara. He obtained a doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. On July 1, 2009, after attending courses at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He has served in the Pontifical Representations in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. Since 2015, he has worked in the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.