Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the diocese of Alessandria (Piedmont) presented by Monsignor Guido Gallese, as made public on September 12. Gallese, 61, had governed the diocese since 2012 and is stepping down after nearly fourteen years marked, in its final stretch, by complaints, divisions with part of his clergy, and an apostolic visitation ordered by the Holy See last January.
The investigation, entrusted to Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, former president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, did not concern doctrinal matters. Its focus was the management of the diocese and the prelate’s lifestyle, which became the subject of controversy in the Italian press after he attended a Caritas lunch driving a Tesla, earning him the nickname “vescovo con la Tesla.”
Tesla, kitesurfing and real estate deals
The electric car was only the most visible element. According to Il Secolo d’Italia, the dossier of criticisms also included the bishop’s fondness for kitesurfing, the boards he owns, a motorcycle, and rumors of costly trips abroad, even to South America, to practice his favorite sport.
The diocese responded point by point. Its spokesperson, Enzo Governale, denied any exotic vacations and stated that Gallese mainly practices kitesurfing in Liguria. Regarding the Tesla, he maintained that it had not cost the diocese a single euro: it was a personal purchase the bishop justified as an ecological choice consistent with his attention to sustainability.
Two real estate transactions were also questioned: the former Capuchin convent, where the bishop had moved to live, and Santa Clara College, intended for university students. The curia defended the regularity of both and specified that Gallese lived in very small spaces.
“Not a single written line and no sanction”
The bishop himself has insisted that the apostolic visitation did not result in any disciplinary measure. “I have not received a single written line and no sanction,” he told the diocesan weekly La Voce Alessandrina. He attributes his step back to the climate created in the diocese: “Sometimes truly loving a community means having the courage and humility, when a common weariness is perceived, to take a step back for the good of all.”
Gallese has been bishop emeritus since September 12 and has announced that he will move elsewhere to leave “full freedom and serenity of action to whoever comes after me.” He will officially bid farewell to the faithful on October 4.
New appointment and apostolic administrator
Rome has already assigned him a task: spiritual assistant of the Collegamento Nazionale Santuari, the coordination of Italian shrines, by appointment signed by Monsignor Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. “I welcome this appointment with deep gratitude,” Gallese said, recalling that his vocation was born in Medjugorje.
For the interim governance of Alessandria, Leo XIV has appointed Monsignor Luigi Testore, bishop of the neighboring diocese of Acqui, as apostolic administrator.
The Gallese case fits into a pattern that is beginning to emerge in the pontificate of Leo XIV: recourse to the apostolic visitation in entrenched diocesan situations, absence of public sanction, and the bishop’s departure by resignation, with reassignment to a lower-profile post. A discreet formula, canonically impeccable, that avoids the scandal of dismissal but leaves open the question of exactly what Cardinal Bertello found in Alessandria.