Vatican City, 21 April 2016 – The Holy Father has appointed Msgr. Luigi Vari as archbishop of Gaeta (area 603, population 164,400, Catholics 155,400, priests 63, permanent deacons 26, religious 231), Italy. The archbishop-elect was born in Segni, Italy in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He holds a degree in biblical sciences from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral, academic and administrative roles in the diocese of Velletri-Segni, including parish priest, director of the schools office and director of teachers of Catholic religion, member of the presbyteral council, lecturer at the Pontifical College "Leoniano di Anagni", member of the college of consultors, and lecturer in the New Testament at the Apollinare Institute of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He is currently director of the Leoniano di Anagni Theological Institute, episcopal vicar for pastoral ministry and pastor of the parish of St. Mary Major, Valmontone, Italy. He succeeds Archbishop Fabio Bernardo D'Onoro, O.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted by the Holy Father.