Father “Franco” Fontana, as he is better known among his confreres, friends and staff serving at the Holy See, was already Chaplain of the Directorate of Security and Civil Protection Services of the Governorate of the Vatican City State since July 2019.
Born on 15 August 1949 in Treviglio, Lombardy, Father Fontana has been a Salesian for 56 years and a priest for 44.
For the past five years he has worked in the Vatican, distinguishing himself in his service as Rector of the Vatican community at the Holy See, as Chaplain of the “Estate Ragazzi” experiences at the Vatican. At the end of the 2022 edition of the “Estate Ragazzi”, during the general audience in which the young people from the “Estate Ragazzi” also participated, the Holy Father made a statement of special esteem for the Salesian, stating, ”I want to thank Father Franco, the spiritual soul of the Vatican, who as a good Salesian was able to plant this seed, to make this summer centre for the third year.”
Before serving in the Vatican, Father Fontana had been Director of the “Istituto Sant'Ambrogio” in Milan, where he accompanied the human and spiritual growth of around 2,000 pupils; and Councillor for the Lombardo-Emiliana Province in Italy (ILE); and before that he had served in several Salesian houses as Rector, Catechist or Headmaster: in Parma, in Beata Vergine di San Luca, Bologna, in Castel de' Britti (Province of Bologna), in a centre for the rehabilitation of adolescents and street youth, and Chiari (Province of Brescia), home to a school ranging from primary to high school and to the Vocational Training Institute.
Nor should we forget the positions he held as Youth Ministry Delegate for the ILE Province and National Coordinator of Missionary Animation, Delegate of the National Centre for Salesian Works (CNOS) for the VIS NGO (International Volunteering for Development) and as its Vice-President.
In his honour, we can also recall the experiences he gained alongside two belated pastors: Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, who wanted him as Delegate of Youth Ministry in Bologna and with whom he worked constantly as General Secretary of the National Eucharistic Congress held in Bologna in 1997; and Bishop Ernesto Vecchi, whom he accompanied between 2013 and 2014 in the delicate mission of Bishop Apostolic Administrator of Terni-Narni-Amelia, as moderator of the diocesan Curia.
His curriculum of studies includes a bachelor’s degree in Theology, obtained at the Pontifical Salesian University of Turin (1980), and a degree in Natural Sciences, obtained at the University of Parma (1984), which was also followed by a high school teaching qualification.
