Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Rossi

Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Rossi

Monsignor Walter R. Rossi is Rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A native of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, Monsignor Rossi was ordained a priest in 1987 for the Diocese of Scranton. In 1997, he began an eight-year term as Associate Rector and Director of Pilgrimages of the National Shrine. In 2004 he was named Chaplain to His Holiness by Pope John Paul II and was appointed Rector of the Basilica in 2005. Monsignor Rossi was honored to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the National Shrine in 2008 and Pope Francis in 2015. During his tenure, he has been instrumental in the completion of the National Shrine’s Great Upper Church according to its original architectural and iconographic plans set forth in the 1950s.