His Most Reverend Highness Monsignor Giovanni Luca Pietro II, Prince-Abbot of Sabourg and Patriarch-elect of Italy, born Monsignor Gianluca de Lucia, was born in Bordighera on 27 May 1978. He qualified in accountancy in 1997 and went on to study law at the University of Imperia.
In 2013 he obtained a degree in theology with the support of the European Deanery of the Polish National Catholic Church, an American Old Catholic Church of Polish origin which has practised sacramental exchange with the Roman Catholic Church since 2004, in accordance with the will of Saint John Paul II.
A lover of art, in 2013 he became an academic senator of the prestigious Gentium Pro Pace Academy, founded at the Vatican in 1967 and now governed by Italian law.
A former auxiliary of the Carabinieri, decorated with the Medal of Merit, he was politically active in Ventimiglia, where he served as a town councillor and stood for mayor. He also had the privilege of taking part in the Italian general election of 2013.
In 2001 he began his career in real estate in the Principality of Monaco, a path that led him to serve as managing partner of a well-known Monegasque estate agency from 2012 to 2023.
From 2011 to 2022 he was a member of the National Association of Collaborators, Ministers and Parliamentarians (ANCMP).
From 2015 to 2019 he also headed three companies in West Africa, operating in the mining, transport and renewable energy sectors.
A devout Catholic, in 2011 he joined the deanery of the Polish National Catholic Church in Italy to found a mission at Ventimiglia (IM), of which he became president. The community grew and in 2018 a new mission was established in the Principality of Monaco, authorised by the Minister of State as a legally recognised religious institution under the name “Polish National Catholic Church in Monaco”.
A philanthropist engaged in charitable work, from 2015 to 2019 he was vice-president of the Monegasque association “Grand Priory of Russia – Commandery of Monaco”, an Orthodox order of Malta, today ecumenical.
Passionate about history and theology, and fascinated by Seborga and the former Principality of Sabourg, he undertook historical and legal research into the development of Seborga and its abbatial Principality. In May 2019 he published an online historical study, available at: castrumsepulchri.org
On 29 September 2019 he brought together a group of enthusiasts to restore the Monastic Order of Seborga and its abbey, drafting a monastic rule inspired by the Benedictine Order. With nine other religious he pronounced the vows of obedience and moderation after the Divine Liturgy, celebrated by the Reverend Father Gastone Bernacchi, secretary of the Italian Deanery of the PNCC and vice-president of the PNCC in Monaco. He was then consecrated an oblate and elected commendatory abbot of Seborga.
The Monastic Order of Seborga has been anchored since its foundation within the Monegasque religious association “P.N.C.C. in Monaco”, but from the outset it took a hybrid theological form welcoming Christians, Catholics and Orthodox, and open to dialogue with all the Christians of the world.
On 1 November 2019 the commendatory abbot of Seborga received the grace of diaconal ordination, together with two other oblate brothers. He subsequently received priestly ordination in order to complete his mission.
On 28 December 2019 His Highness Monsignor Giovanni Luca was crowned 91st prince-abbot of Sabourg by a senior Orthodox prelate. On that occasion he had the new Constitution of the Principality of Sabourg adopted, definitively repealing the former constitution of 1261 and its later amendments. Following the vote, he swore in the secretaries of state and the new members of the Council of Dicasteries (Government of Sabourg), thereby reconstituting the main institutions of the Principality of Sabourg.
To deepen his theological studies he devoted himself to the study of Orthodoxy, in particular the canons of the first great councils of the Church of Christ, and adopted the Orthodox confession as a way of life, in accordance with the canons of the councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon and the Fourth Council of Constantinople.
The prince-abbot recognises the regularity of married clergy, and in particular of bishops who, unlike those of the Chalcedonian Churches — whether Catholic or Orthodox — are drawn from monks bound by the obligation of celibacy.
On 20 February 2022 he was incardinated in another Orthodox jurisdiction and consecrated bishop by His Eminence Theodore, bishop of Heraclea and primate of the autonomous Italian Orthodox Church known as that of Cisalpine Gaul, a direct emanation of the Patriarchate of Kyiv, thereby acquiring regular apostolic succession.
On 25 February 2023 he was incardinated in the Episcopal Conference of Orthodox Bishops of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States, a direct emanation of the UAOC, and officially recognised as prince-abbot and archbishop of Sabourg.
On 20 January 2023 he was incardinated in the Synod of the Orthodox Church in Italy, founded in 1991 by Archbishop Antonio De Rosso. On the same day the Synod elected him deputy metropolitan of Italy.
Following the resignation of the metropolitan archbishop of Italy on 16 August 2023, he took over the interim leadership of the Church until 14 August 2024, when he was elected patriarch of Italy.
In June 2025 he was appointed pro-rector of the Gentium Pro Pace Academy.