The Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, with his definitory, has appointed Fr Marcello Ghirlando, OFM, as assistant visitator of the custody of the Holy Land. He will be assisting Fr Alojzy Sławomir Warot, of Krakow, Poland, who has been appointed visitator general.

In the Order of Friars Minor, when a new provincial minister of the Custody of the Holy Land has to be elected, a visitator general is appointed. His task is to accompany the custody in the period (about a year) preceding the election of the new provincial minister of the Holy Land.

In the coming months, the visitator general will go to the various communities of the custody on a canonical visit. During such a visit, he will get to know the conditions of the friars, examine initiatives, support activities and above all promote the spirit of fraternity and observance of the rule and the constitutions.

The custodian of the Holy Land, also called the International Custodian of the Holy Land, is appointed by the General Definitorium of the Order and approved by the Holy See. The election will be held in 2025.

Fr Ghirlando is the provincial vicar of the Province of St Paul Apostle in Malta. He holds a doctorate in Biblical Theology and obtained a degree in Holy Scripture and Biblical Archaeology from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem.

He teaches Holy Scripture at the Faculty of Theology at the University and at the major seminary in Gozo. He is a member of the Commission for the Revision of the Bible in Maltese.