Pietro Fiordelli

Bishop Pietro Fiordelli (9 January 1916 – 23 December 2004) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop, first residential bishop of Prato.

Biography

Monsignor Pietro Fiordelli was born in Città di Castello on 1916, he had a brother named Furio and three sisters, Gina, Maria and Dina. Ordained priest on November 6, 1938, and graduated at Pontifical Lateran University. After 16 years of ministry in Città di Castello, on 7 July 1954 he was appointed bishop of Prato by pope Pius XII; on following 3 October he was consecrated by bishop Filippo Maria Cipriani, being the youngest Italian bishop of the time.

Monsignor Fiordelli held the office of bishop for 37 years, welcoming Saint pope John Paul II on March 19, 1986, on a visit to Prato. On December 7, 1991, he left the office for having reached the age limit. Bishop Pietro Fiordelli died, after a long illness, on the morning of December 23, 2004.

Attack on the bishop

Bishop Fiordelli was known in 1958 for having defined the Bellandi family (Mauro Bellandi and Loriana Nunziati) public sinners, a couple of citizens of Prato who had "married in a civil ceremony". Monsignor Fiordelli was tried for defamation: he was sentenced in the first instance to pay a fine of 40.000 liras, and acquitted on appeal for the unquestionable act.