Following God’s road: Meet Fr. Enzo Napoli, C.PP.S.
The 36-year-old Missionary of the Precious Blood arrived in Florida this year from Italy, bringing with him a deep faith, an energetic missionary spirit, and a remarkable journey that has taken him from the island of Sicily to communities around the world.
Born in Palermo, Sicily, Fr. Enzo grew up with his parents and two younger sisters in nearby Piana degli Albanesi, a unique town founded centuries ago by Albanian Christians fleeing persecution. The community has preserved its language, traditions, and Byzantine Catholic heritage, giving Fr. Enzo a rich cultural and spiritual foundation.
"We have the Greek Byzantine rite," he says. "I grew up with the spirituality and liturgy of the Eastern Church." One main difference in the Orthodox Church is that priests are permitted to marry and have families. “In my diocese,” he says, “we have married priests.”
Faith was always an important part of his life, but at age 16, he experienced what he describes as a profound encounter with God's love during the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. He was certain that his calling was to the priesthood, but his vision of the future also included a wife and children.
As he entered seminary and deepened his prayer life, however, he began to sense that God was leading him in a different direction. “I prayed before the Holy Spirit to light my heart and mind. The result was that I felt that I wasn't called to have my roots in a specific place, with a family, but my roots would be in a gospel that can be proclaimed freely anywhere in the world. My vocation would be to be a missionary priest.”
While studying in Rome, Fr. Enzo participated in discernment programs with the Missionaries of the Precious Blood among other religious congregations. During a week of spiritual exercises at the abbey of San Felice di Giano, the birthplace of the C.PP.S., he experienced a powerful moment before the Blessed Sacrament that convinced him he had found his spiritual home.
"I felt Jesus saying, 'This is the place,'" he says.
As he learned more about the congregation and the spirituality of St. Gaspar del Bufalo, he found that its emphasis on reconciliation, mission, and the Precious Blood resonated deeply with what God had already placed in his heart. Fr. Enzo was definitively incorporated as a Missionary of the Precious Blood in 2018 and ordained a priest in Palermo in 2019.
His first ministry assignment took him to a parish in Bari in southern Italy, where he spent seven years focusing on youth ministry. He helped establish several youth groups, accompanied young people in their faith journeys, and developed programs centered on Scripture, discipleship, and community. "The young people were like my spiritual children," he says.
Fr. Enzo's missionary experiences have also taken him to Tanzania, Chile, and parts of Europe. Blessed with a gift for languages, he speaks Italian, Sicilian, Albanian, French, Spanish, and English.
Fr. Enzo is assigned as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Melbourne Beach, Florida, where Fr. Ben Berinti serves as pastor. Although adjusting to a new culture has its challenges, Fr. Enzo approaches the experience with optimism and trust. "God brought me here," he says. "It's an adventure."