(ANS – Rome) – The Rector Major, Fr Fabio Attard, with the consent of his Council, has appointed Fr Marek Adam Chrzan as rector of the Sacred Heart community (Salesian Headquarters in Rome) for the 2026–2029 three-year period. The announcement was made by Fr Stefano Martoglio, Vicar of the Rector Major, in his ‘goodnight’  on Tuesday 7 July to the members of the community.

The new rector

Fr Marek, originally from Poland, is 62 years old, and brings with him a background in leadership and formation within the Salesian Congregation. He served as Provincial of the Krakow Province and as General Councillor for what was then the North Europe Region (2010-2014). He subsequently directed the Gesù Maestro Community at the UPS and, since 2016, the Don Bosco International Institute in Turin’s Crocetta district.

A role of particular responsibility

In his address, Fr Martoglio emphasised that leading the Sacred Heart Community entails a special responsibility, as it is the home and community of the Rector Major himself, the seat of the Congregation’s leadership and governance, as well as pastoral activities such as the Basilica, the Parish and the Youth Centre.

A word of thanks to Fr Francesco Marcoccio

Fr Stefano chose to dedicate a section of his goodnight to thanking Fr Francesco Marcoccio, the outgoing rector of the General House, expressing – “from the heart, and not merely as a formality” – his own gratitude and that of the whole community for the service rendered over the past three years. He highlighted the dual meaning of the word ‘passion’ – great love and great suffering – to describe the style with which Fr Francesco had led the community, describing him as capable of ‘taking by the hand’ a community which, following years of building work, had become somewhat fragmented, and restoring to it a unified pastoral vision between the two ‘lungs’ of the house: the leadership and governance of the Congregation on the one hand, and the pastoral care of the Basilica, the parish and the Youth Centre on the other. Fr Martoglio concluded by assuring Fr Francesco of the prayers of the whole community – for him, for his family and for the new mission that obedience will entrust to him within the Congregation.