The Apostolic Nunciature to Timor-Leste is an ecclesiastical office 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 ...

Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. It is a diplomatic post 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 ...

, whose representative is called the

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

with the rank of an ambassador. The title Apostolic Nuncio to Timor-Leste is held by the prelate appointed Apostolic Nuncio to

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The nunciature maintains an office in

Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...

; the nuncio resides in Malaysia.

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 ...

established the Nunciature to Timor-Leste on 24 June 2003.

List of papal representatives to Timor-Leste

;Apostolic Nuncios *

Renzo Fratini Renzo Fratini (born 25 April 1944) is an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and diplomat of the Holy See. He became an apostolic nuncio in 1998 and ended his career as nuncio to Spain. As he resigned in 2019, the Holy See distanced it ...

(24 June 2003 – 27 January 2004) *

Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don Albert Malcolm Ranjith (; born 15 November 1947) is a Sri Lankan Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Colombo since 2009. He was made a cardinal in 2010. Ranjith previously served as auxiliary bishop of Colombo (1 ...

(29 April 2004 – 10 December 2005) *

Leopoldo Girelli Leopoldo Girelli (born 13 March 1953) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who serves as the apostolic nuncio to India and Nepal. He was nuncio to Israel and Cyprus as well as apostolic delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine from 2017 to 2 ...

(10 October 2006 – 16 January 2013) *

Joseph Marino Joseph Salvador Marino (born January 23, 1953) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who worked in the Vatican diplomatic service from 1988 to 2019 and then served as president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy until 2023 ...

(16 January 2013 – 11 October 2019) *

Wojciech Załuski Wojciech Załuski (born 5 April 1960) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1985. He has been an apostolic nuncio and an archbishop since 2014. Biography He was born in Za ...

(29 September 2020 – present)

References

External links

{{Diplomatic missions in East Timor

List of papal representatives to Timor-Leste

See also

References

External links