Ruggero Franceschini

Ruggero Franceschini, OFMCap (1 September 1939 – 30 December 2024) was an Italian archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church.

Biography Ruggero Franceshini was born in Prignano sulla Secchia, Italy, on 1 September 1939. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and made his vows in 1960. He was ordained a priest of that order on 11 August 1963. Shortly after arriving in İzmir, a police car that a deranged man had stolen struck him crossing the road. He spent months in the hospital and was left with a limp. He hired a Turkish lawyer and waited years for a resolution. He later connected it to other attacks he viewed as part of an anti-Christian campaign.

On 12 June 2010, he was given the additional responsibility of apostolic administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia following the murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese. He did not accept the official explanation that Padovese had been the victim of a single mentally disturbed man. He connected it to other attacks and called it the work of "ultranationalists and religious fanatics".

Franceschini died on 30 December 2024, at the age of 85.

After the funeral, celebrated on 2 January 2025 in the parish church of Sant'Antonino in Casalgrande, he was buried in the local cemetery.