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The other: He is not a cardinal, but the bishop's chair of Milan has historically been since the end of the 19. Century always very closely associated with the cardinalate.
Delpini's predecessors included Giovanni Battista Montini, the later Pope Paul VI, as well as the cardinals Giovanni Colombo, Carlo Maria Martini, Dionigi Tettamanzi and Angelo Scola. With Pius XI (1922–1939) and Paul VI (1963–1978), this cardinal tradition on the Archbishop's Chair of Milan in the past century even produced two popes within a short time.
However, in several cardinal surveys under Pope Francis (2013–2025), the name of Delpini, who has been in office as archbishop since 2017, was not on the list. This was particularly attracted in 2022, when Francis raised the bishop of neighboring Como, Oscar Cantoni, to be a cardinal.
At a celebration for the new cardinal, Delpini made ironic remarks about the great and significant Milan and the significantly smaller Como. Why did the Pope choose the Bishop of Como and not the Archbishop of Milan?
Perhaps, Delpini joked, Francis had thought that the Archbishop of Milan already had enough to do anyway. In addition, he alluded to the fact that no one knew exactly what Jesuits thought; Francis himself belonged to the Jesuit Order.
Irony or criticism?
A Criticism of Francis' Decision? At least it was partly understood that way. In the Italian media, the remarks turned into a not insignificant controversy. While confidant Delpinis referred to his well-known dry humor, the remarks elsewhere were interpreted as inappropriate criticism against the pope, or even as an expression of a certain insult. Delpini finally found himself prompted for clarification.
Speaking to the chaplains of his mega-diocese, he explained: "I wanted to be a little funny in my greetings for a dear friend, but this intention has not been understood."
At the same time, he emphasized that he did not want to become a cardinal himself and to be completely in agreement with the decisions and criteria of the Pope.
However, the story was not quite over yet. A few days later, the chairman of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Bologna’s Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, also took up the debate.
At an event at the Catholic University in Milan, he jokingly initiated a remark with the words "As Cardinal Delpini said..." – and thus caused laughter and applause. Delpini himself had already left the hall at that time.
In Italian media, Zuppi's remark was finally understood as an attempt to defuse the heated debate with humor.
But back to the special features. The third: Delpini had to his 75. Birthday submitted his resignation according to the regulations – but Pope Leo XIV did not initially respond.
Now the archdiocese declared that the head of the church had accepted the resignation with the formula "nunc pro tunc" (now for then). In concrete terms, this means that Delpini will continue to head the largest archdiocese of Europe for about a year.
According to the decision of Pope Leo XIV, he is now to remain in office until the introduction of his successor. The aforementioned Bishop of Como, Cardinal Cantoni, who became 76 at the beginning of September, also remains at the head of his diocese at least until the end of the year.
Five million people
But how is such a mega-diocese as the one in Milan? The figures include more than 2,000 diocesan priests, about 1,000 religious and more than 8,000 religious women.
According to its own information on the Diocese website, it covers an area of 4,234 km2 and includes the Italian provinces of Milan, Varese, Lecco and Monza-Brianza, part of the province of Como and some municipalities of the provinces of Bergamo and Pavia.
More than five million Catholics live in this entire area, which belongs to the Milan Archdiocese. It consists of more than 1,100 parishes, spread over 73 deans and organized in seven pastoral zones.
How does this work?
An archdiocese like Milan cannot be ruled from the archbishop's desk. Delpini is therefore based on a distinct middle management level: the archdiocese is divided into seven pastoral zones, each coordinated by an episcopal vicar.
On the level below follow dean's offices and increasingly larger pastoral communities. The vicars keep in touch with the base, prepare visits and carry up problems.
Delpini himself sets personal accents with pastoral visits – less as a controller, but as an archbishop who listens and shows presence. This is also evident in his own texts, which can be found in his speeches and sermons on the website of the Archdiocese : Repeatedly he describes pastoral visitation as an opportunity to tell the churches personally, "voi mi siete cari" and "voi mi state a cuore" - "you are important to me, you are close to my heart".
At the same time, he understands the visitation as an opportunity to listen together to what the respective church has given up for the present and the future. That he knows this huge apparatus should help him: Before he became archbishop in 2017, he was himself a vicar in such a pastoral zone, auxiliary bishop and finally vicar general of Milan.
"Laboratorium gelebter Synodalität"
The archdiocese’s organizational manual alone gives an impression of the dimension: the “Guida della Diocesi”, which was reissued in 2025, has 1,232 pages – certainly not a browser for in between.
However, this apparatus is not only governed from above. Delpini includes priests and lay people through counseling bodies such as the diocesan pastoral council, which he himself describes as a "laboratory of lived synodality."
Church synodally set, Delpini stands out in public through a mixture of restraint, self-deprecation, literary education and partly dry humor. So no ordinary clergyman. The churchman maintains an institutional but content-distanced and often critical attitude towards politics.
Although his criticism does not apply to individual parties, it does apply to rhetorical patterns and content that are often associated with the right-wing political camp.
An example of this was the European elections in 2019, when Delpini said that the issue of migration of politicians would be turned into a "sumbren of slogans for electoral purposes" and used to mobilize fears.
At that time, the churchman stated in the much-read Catholic magazine "Famiglia Cristiana": "If the admission of migrants is described by some political representatives as a danger to society, they quickly assume that the Pope does not have the good of Italy and Europe in the sense."
In 2022, for example, after the election victory of the right-wing coalition in Italy, the archbishop described the victory as a democratic "turnaround", but the then new government around Giorgia Meloni urged to take responsibility for the common good.
There was sharper criticism at the time of the "high political disenchantment" and the "low turnout." On the subject of right-wing populism outside Italy, the churchman also raised his voice.
In the spring of this year, for example, he criticized US President Donald Trump after his verbal attacks against the Catholic Church and the Pope, according to the news agency Ansa.
"It's sad for the American people that they have to be ashamed of their president," Delpini said.
Now, after nine years at the head of such a mega-diocese, is there to be an end?
Seemingly not yet. For the management of such an entity requires experience – and Delpini had it before he himself became archbishop.
Pope Leo does not seem to want to do without it for the time being. He leaves Delpini in office for at least another year until a successor is found and introduced.
The search process is to be carried out after his 76th birthday, according to the Vatican.
Until then, at the head of the largest archdiocese in Europe, a man who knew his structures for a long time before he led them himself remains.