Ettore Balestrero (21 December 1966) is an Italian prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who serves as the Apostolic Nunicio to the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. He previously served as Nuncio to Colombia and in Rome at the Secretariat of State as Undersecretary for Relations with States. He entered the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

in 1996 and was made an archbishop in 2013.

Biography

Balestrero was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

on 21 December 1966; his mother was an American. After attending law school, he entered the Almo Collegio Capranica and was ordained a priest on 18 September 1993 for the Diocese of Rome by Cardinal

Camillo Ruini Camillo Ruini (; born 19 February 1931) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was made a cardinal in 1991. He served as president of the Italian Episcopal Conference from 1991 to 2007 and as Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome fr ...

. He earned a degree in theology and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in Canon Law. After serving in the Parish of Santa Maria Mater Ecclesiae al Torrino, he became a student at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He entered the Holy See's diplomatic service in 1996 and held positions in Korea, Mongolia and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Beginning in 2001 he served in the Secretariat of State. On 17 August 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Undersecretary for Relations with States, replacing Pietro Parolin who was named Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela the same day. Balestrero speaks fluent English as well as French, Spanish, German and Dutch. As Undersecretary, Balestrero was the Vatican's representative to Moneyval, the arm of the Council of Europe charged with the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Moneyval's July 2016 assessment showed the Vatican had substantially improved its compliance, though it identified ongoing problems as well. Balestrero accepted its judgements and said the report was "not an end, but a milestone in our continuing efforts ... an important passage in our continuing efforts to marry moral commitments to technical excellence. On 22 February 2013, in the last week of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, Balestrero was appointed apostolic nuncio to Colombia and

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Vittoriana. He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal

Tarcisio Bertone Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine o ...

on 27 April. In Colombia he supported the government's entente with the FARC guérilla movement and the peace agreement reached in November 2016, leading to a papal visit to Colombia in 2017. Early in 2018, the Apostolic Nuncio to the

(DRC), Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor, returned to Rome after being declared ''persona non grata'' for his criticisms of DRC President

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Pres ...

. On 6 July, the Holy See sent Balestrero to the nunciature in the DRC to resolve its affairs (''per il disbrigo degli affari''), though he was not given a title in the nunciature. On 27 April 2019, after elections and a change of government in the DRC,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

named Balestrero apostolic nuncio to the DRC.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balestrero, Ettore 1966 births Living people Almo Collegio Capranica alumni 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni Italian people of American descent Clergy from Genoa Apostolic Nuncios to Colombia Apostolic Nuncios to the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Biography

Notes

See also

References

External links