Father Francesco Giordano
Father Francesco Giordano is Director of Human Life International’s Rome office since July 2015, following in the footsteps of HLI’s former director, Monsignor Barreiro. A diocesan priest and professor in Rome, Italy, he was ordained a priest January 10, 2009. He also teaches at both the Angelicum and the Rome program of Catholic University of America. “Being a priest, a spiritual father, is tied to pro-life,” he says. “How? The root of fatherhood is the desire to transmit what’s been given to you. That’s why I like tradition, the old Mass. That’s why I like the Faith, it’s salutary! This is it, the perennial Truth, and it will be the same Truth yesterday, today and tomorrow. That’s life. And if you don’t want to transmit that Life, obviously you will have a contraceptive mentality.”
Born in France, Father Francesco Giordano’s mother is French, his father Italian and American. He lived in South Africa next, where he first learned English, then grew up largely in the United States, spending eighteen years there before moving back to Rome in September, 2005.
Father Francesco Giordano: “I’ve always been involved in pro-life, it’s been a concern of mine. It’s just been part of my formation since I was in high school. It was Catholic teaching, the catechesis we had. I was raised with the old Mass and that was my formation. It was normal, we had big families! Seven-twelve kids! My Father used to say, ‘Pretty soon we’ll be back in catacombs. Sooner than later,’ he said. And my Father’s not that far off, you know? There’s different types of catacombs that we’re living in today. I’ve always seen a contrast between the Catholic culture my parents gave to me and the culture around us.”
He said going on to college at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he would receive his BA, “It was always very much about apologetics. It was always about defending the Faith. That was a big thing for me. I would always read ‘Catholic Answers’, watched EWTN and was defending the Faith and being counter-cultural.”
After receiving an MA from the University of Chicago, Father Giordano went to Rome and met Msgr. Barreiro, went to his masses, liked his homilies. “Many times, I had dinner with him Sunday evenings. That’s how I learned about Human Life International. Used HLI’s bioethics library. Back in 2006. I was later offered the HLI position at Rome’s pro-life march in 2015.” He had just completed his doctorate in systematic theology from Santa Croce University in Rome.
“I like to have things substantiated. That’s why there’s got to be apologetics for Life, for the Gospel. My pride and joy are these pro-life students from the apologetics course. It’s in my heart to be an apologist for the Faith, an apostle of the Faith. Christ is the Apostle. You can be bold about it because it’s the Truth and you know you have your shoulders covered by God the Father.”