The Apostolic Nunciature to New Zealand 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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. 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 Holy See represented its interests in the region through its Delegation to Australia established on 15 April 1914 and renamed the Delegation to Australia, New Zealand and Oceania on 8 June 1947. On 1 November 1968, that was divided into two delegations: the Delegation to Australia and Papua New Guinea and the Delegation to New Zealand and Pacific Islands. The Holy See established its Nunciature to New Zealand on 20 June 1973. The Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand is usually also the Apostolic Nuncio to the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

the Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

and Apostolic Delegate to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

upon his appointment to said nations.

List of papal representatives

;Apostolic Delegates to Australia ;with responsibility for New Zealand * Bonaventura Cerretti (10 May 1914 – 6 May 1917) *

Bartolomeo Cattaneo Bartolomeo Cattaneo (26 September 1866 – 14 May 1943) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1917 and was Apostolic Delegate to Australia from 1917 to 1933. ...

(16 May 1917 – January 1933) *

Filippo Bernardini Filippo Bernardini (11 November 1884 – 26 August 1954) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He spent almost his entire career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and was given the rank of archbishop in 1933. He was Apostolic Del ...

(13 March 1933 – 10 October 1935) *

Giovanni Panico Giovanni Panico (12 April 1895 – 7 July 1962) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as nuncio to several countries during his career, and was created a cardinal in 1962. Life Early life Panico was born in Tricase, in t ...

(17 October 1935 – 28 September 1948) ;Apostolic Delegates to Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania *

Paolo Marella Paolo Marella (25 January 1895 – 15 October 1984) was an Italian people, Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served in the Roman Curia following a career as a Nuncio, delegate of the Holy See, and w ...

(27 October 1948 – 15 April 1953) * Romolo Carboni (28 September 1953 – 2 September 1959) * Maximilien de Fürstenberg (21 November 1959 – 28 April 1962) *

Domenico Enrici Domenico Enrici (9 April 1909 – 3 December 1997) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. Biography Domenico Enrici was born on 9 April 1909 in Cervasca, Province of Cuneo, I ...

(1 October 1962 – 1 November 1968) ;Apostolic Delegate to New Zealand and Pacific Islands * Raymond Philip Etteldorf (21 December 1968 – 21 June 1974) ;Apostolic Pro-Nuncio *

Angelo Acerbi Angelo Acerbi (born 23 September 1925) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, who has been an archbishop since 1974 and a cardinal since 2024. He served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See as the Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, th ...

(22 June 1974 – 14 August 1979) * Antonio Magnoni (24 April 1980 – 22 July 1989) *

Thomas Anthony White Thomas A. White (12 August 1931 – 7 May 2017) was an archbishop of the Catholic Church who served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Consecrated bishop in Rome 30th July 1978, he once des ...

(14 October 1989 – 27 April 1996) ;Apostolic Nuncio *

Patrick Coveney Patrick Coveney (29 July 1934 – 22 October 2022) was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1966 to 2009. He became an archbishop in 1985 and fulfilled several assignments as Aposto ...

(27 April 1996 – 25 January 2005) * Charles Daniel Balvo (1 April 2005 – 17 January 2013) *

Martin Krebs Martin Krebs (born to Essen 2 November 1956) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church who has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1991. He has been an archbishop since 2008 when he received the first of several postings as ...

(8 May 2013 – 16 June 2018) *

Novatus Rugambwa Novatus Rugambwa (born 8 October 1957) is a Tanzanian prelate of the Catholic Church and diplomat of the Holy See. Biography Novatus Rugambwa was born on 8 October 1957, in Bukoba, Tanzania, and was ordained a priest on 6 July 1986, for the La ...

(29 March 2019 – 27 July 2024)Resignations and Appointments, 27.07.2024
/ref> *

Gábor Pintér Gábor Pintér (born 9 March 1964) is a Hungarian prelate of the Catholic Church who works in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. Career Gábor Pintér was born on 9 March 1964 in Kunszentmárton, Hungary. He was ordained a priest on 11 J ...

(27 July 2024 – present)

References

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