Antonio Lucibello (born 25 February 1942) is an Italian prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who worked in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

from 1971 to 2016. He has held the rank of archbishop and apostolic nuncio since 1995.

Biography

Antonio Lucibello was born on 25 February 1942 in

Spezzano Albanese Spezzano Albanese (Arbëreshë: ''Spixan'') is a municipality in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy. It is located on a 320 m high hill commanding the plain of Sibari and the Esaro river valley. It originated from Albanian em ...

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He was ordained a priest on 23 July 1967. He studied at the

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (, ) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Despite its name, the P ...

Diplomatic career

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1971. He filled positions in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Panama, Ethiopia, Haiti, Argentina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zaire, Yugoslavia, Greece and Ireland. On 8 September 1995,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him

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 Thurio and Apostolic Nuncio to Gambia, Guinea and Liberia, as well as Apostolic Delegate to Sierra Leone. He received his episcopal consecration from

Cardinal Secretary of State The Secretary of State of His Holiness (; ), also known as the Cardinal Secretary of State or the Vatican Secretary of State, presides over the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia. Th ...

Angelo Sodano Angelo Raffaele Sodano (23 November 1927 – 27 May 2022) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019 and previously as the Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 to 2006; S ...

on 4 November 1995. On 27 July 1999, John Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Türkiye and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

on 27 August 2005. During his service in these posts, a Catholic priest was murdered in Ankara in February 2006, Pope Benedict visited Türkiye in December 2006, Bishop

Luigi Padovese Luigi Padovese (31 March 1947 – 3 June 2010) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who became a bishop and served as the Apostolic Vicar of Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia, Anatolia in Turkey. He was a Franciscan and a sc ...

of the

Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia The Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia (, ) is a Roman Catholic Latin apostolic vicariate in the eastern half of Anatolia (Asian Turkey). The missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction is not part of any ecclesiastical province. It is under the directi ...

was murdered in 2010, and in 2015 Türkiye recalled its ambassador to the Holy See after Pope Francis used the word "genocide" to describe the deaths of Armenians in Ottoman Türkiye. With the appointment of his successor

Paul Fitzpatrick Russell Paul Fitzpatrick Russell (born May 2, 1959) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in May 2022. He previously served as the apostolic nuncio to Turkey, Turkmenistan, and A ...

on 19 March 2016, Lucibello ended his active service as nuncio.

Notes

References

;Additional sources * Brief review of his principal assignments with quotes.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucibello, Antonio Living people Apostolic nuncios to the Gambia Apostolic nuncios to Guinea Apostolic nuncios to Liberia Apostolic nuncios to Sierra Leone Apostolic nuncios to Paraguay Apostolic nuncios to Turkey Apostolic nuncios to Turkmenistan People from the Province of Cosenza 1942 births

Biography

Diplomatic career

See also

Notes

References

External links