Valerio Lazzeri

Coat of arms of Valerio Lazzeri.

Valerio Lazzeri (born 22 July 1963) is a Swiss Roman Catholic bishop.

He carried out his studies from 1982 to 1987 at the San Carlo diocesan seminary, which was then based in the Salesianum boarding school in Friborg, and at the University of Fribourg, where in 1987 he obtained a license in theology. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Lombard Seminary in Rome (1987-1989) and at the Pontifical Gregorian University (1987-1988). On 2 September 1989 he was ordained a priest by the bishop of Lugano Eugenio Corecco in the Lugano Cathedral. In 1991 he obtained his doctorate in theology with a specialization in spirituality at the Pontifical theological faculty Teresianum in Rome. From 1991 to 1993 he was vice-rector and teacher in the Papio College of Ascona. He then moved back to Rome, where from 1993 to 1999 he was Official of the Congregation for Catholic Education of the Roman Curia. In 1999 he became a professor of spiritual theology at the Faculty of Theology of Lugano and episcopal vicar of the diocese of Lugano for women religious. From 1999 to 2009 he was a parish collaborator in Locarno, where he dealt in particular with preaching, catechesis and Lectio divina. In 2009 he moved to Bose for a year, dedicating himself to study and research, and making a journey of spiritual deepening. Returning to Lugano, where he resumes the duties of episcopal vicar and teacher at the Faculty of Theology, in 2010 he becomes canon of the chapter of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. He was also appointed spiritual director in the San Carlo diocesan seminary and assistant to the Ordo Virginum.

Ordained to the priesthood on 2 September 1989, Lazzeri was named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lugano, Switzerland on 4 November 2013.