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 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 works 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 ...

Biography

Balestrero was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on 21 December 1966; his mother was an American. After attending law school, he entered the

Almo Collegio Capranica The Almo Collegio Capranica is the oldest Roman college, founded in 1457 by Cardinal Domenico Capranica (1400–1458) in his own palace for thirty young clerics, who received an education suitable to prepare them for the priesthood. History ...

and was ordained a priest on 18 September 1993 for the

Diocese of Rome The Diocese of Rome (; ), also called the Vicariate of Rome, is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church under the direct jurisdiction of the pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church. As ...

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 from ...

. He earned a degree in theology and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Canon Law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

. After serving in the Parish of Santa Maria Mater Ecclesiae al Torrino, he became a student 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 Holy See's diplomatic service in 1996 and held positions in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Beginning in 2001 he served in the Secretariat of State. On 17 August 2009,

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 Undersecretary for Relations with States, replacing

Pietro Parolin Pietro Parolin (, ; born 17 January 1955) is an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who has served as the Holy See, Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State, Secretary of State since 2013, and has served as a member of the Council o ...

who was named

Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela The Apostolic Nunciature to Venezuela is the diplomatic mission of the Holy See to Venezuela, formally established in 1921. The most recent Apostolic Nuncio is Archbishop Aldo Giordano, who was named to the position by Pope Francis on 26 October ...

the same day. Balestrero speaks fluent English as well as French, Spanish, German and Dutch. 2025 AI for Good - Ettore Balestrero 01

As Undersecretary, Balestrero was the Vatican's representative to

Moneyval MONEYVAL is the official denomination of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism. It is a permanent monitoring body of the Council of Europe, with 35 member states and jurisdictio ...

, the arm of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

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 judgments 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

, Balestrero was appointed apostolic nuncio to Columbia 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 City, Vatican diplomat. A Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal since 2003, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as S ...

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

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(DRC), Archbishop

Luis Mariano Montemayor Luis Mariano Montemayor (born 16 March 1956) is an Argentinian prelate of the Catholic Church who has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1991. He began to serve in his present position as Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland in Febr ...

, 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 and former military officer who served as the fourth President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 to 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination o ...

. 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 (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

named Balestrero apostolic nuncio to the

. On 21 June 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as

Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva The Permanent Observer of Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva is the representative of the Holy See to the European office of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Church also has a representative at the headquarters of the United N ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Balestrero, Ettore 1966 births Living people Almo Collegio Capranica alumni Chaplains of His Holiness 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 Permanent observers of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI

Biography

Diplomatic Career

Notes

See also

References

External links