Pope Francis has named Father George D. Gallaro, 67, a priest of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts, as bishop of the Byzantine Eparchy of Piano degli Albanesi in Palermo, Italy. Father Gallaro currently serves as professor of Canon Law at St. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Seminary in Pittsburgh and as judicial vicar of the Byzantine Archeparchy of Pittsburgh.
George D. Gallaro was born January 16, 1948, in Pozuolo, Sicily. He received a bachelor’s in philosophy from the Seminario Diocesano Noto, Italy, in 1968. He received a certificate in liturgical theology from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, Rome, in 1980, a doctorate in Eastern Church Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, in 1981, and a licentiate in ecumenical theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, in 1994.
He was ordained May 27, 1972, in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and incardinated in the Greek-Melkite Eparchy of Newton in September 1987. He served as a parochial vicar and instructor of catechesis in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For the Melkite Eparchy, he served in the marriage tribunal (1982-1986), as a seminary instructor (1982-1991), secretary to Archbishop Joseph Tawil (1983-1990), judicial vicar (1986-1992), chancellor and eparchial consultor (1983-1992). He was a member and collaborator of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 1992-1994 and rector of St. Gregory Melkite Seminary in Newton from 1994-1996.
Bishop-elect Gallaro is the author of dozens of articles, dealing largely with issues from the perspective of Eastern Catholics, including ecumenism, marriage and Canon Law. He is a member of the Canon Law Society of America and the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches. He speaks English, Italian, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek, some Albanian and Portuguese, and a little Arabic.
The Byzantine Eparchy of Piano degli Albanesi has been vacant since the retirement of Bishop Sotír Ferrara in April 2013.
