Matteo Maria Zuppi (born 11 October 1955) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Bologna since 12 December 2015.

[citation needed] He attended the Liceo Virgilio there[1] and then he studied at the seminary in Palestrina and earned his Bachelor of Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Palestrina on 9 May 1981 and in that year was appointed as the parochial vicar of Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere under Vincenzo Paglia, whom he succeeded as pastor of the church, serving from 2000 to 2010.

[18][19] In June 2022 Cardinal Zuppi was accused of hiding what critics called blessing a gay couple after their civil wedding.

The editor of the Italian conservative Catholic online newspaper said the Archdiocese of Bologna made a number of false claims in a statement attempting to justify the ceremony.

The "blessing" of Pietro Morotti and Giacomo Spagnolli took place in the presence of six priests at the church of San Lorenzo di Budrio.

[20] In 2023 Pope Francis asked Cardinal Zuppi to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.