Fr. Rapacioli Appointed New Superior General of PIME

Father Francesco Rapacioli, 62, a missionary in Bangladesh, is the new Superior General of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), the missionary institute that publishes Mondo e Missione. He was elected on July 7, 2025, during the 16th General Assembly of the institute, which began on June 22 at the International Center for Missionary Animation in Rome, focused on the theme: "All and Only Missionaries: Identity, Responsibility, and Freedom in the Common Missionary Vocation."

He succeeds Father Ferruccio Brambillasca, who led the institute since 2013 and was not eligible for re-election after completing his second term.

Along with Father Rapacioli, a new General Council was also elected and will serve for the next six years. It includes:

• Father Daniele Mazza, who also takes on the role of Vicar General;

• Father Ferdinand Kouadio Komenan;

• Brother Massimo Cattaneo.

Currently the Regional Superior for South Asia, Father Rapacioli was born in Paris in 1963 but grew up in the Italian Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio. He joined PIME after earning a degree in Medicine and was ordained a priest in 1993. His first assignment was at the seminary in Pune, India, where he ministered until 1997, when he was sent to Bangladesh. In this Muslim-majority country, he carried out most of his mission in Dhaka.

From 2012 to 2018, he returned to Italy to serve as Rector of PIME's International Seminary in Monza. Since 2020, back in Dhaka, he has launched a support group for alcoholics and drug addicts—a concrete response to a widespread need in the country.

What is PIME?

PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions) traces its roots to the Lombard Seminary for Foreign Missions, founded by Monsignor Angelo Ramazzotti in 1850. In 1926, Pope Pius XI officially established it as a pontifical institute by merging it with the Pontifical Seminary of Saints Peter and Paul for Foreign Missions, which had been founded in Rome in 1871 by Monsignor Pietro Avanzini.

Today, PIME includes around 400 missionaries from 17 different nationalities, active in 20 countries across all continents. Its most recent mission, developed in collaboration with other institutes that share PIME's charism, is taking its first steps in the Diocese of Tanjung Selor, in Borneo, Indonesia.