Giovanni Tonucci (born 4 December 1941 in

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

, PU, Italy) is an Italian

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the Catholic Church. He 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 until his retirement in 2017.

Diplomatic career

From 1971 till the end of 1973 his diplomatic career took him to

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

, Cameroon, then, from 1974 to 1976 to the United Kingdom. From July 1976 he was back in Rome, assigned to the Section for General Affairs of the Holy See Secretariat of State where he worked with

Agostino Casaroli Agostino Casaroli (24 November 1914 – 9 June 1998) was an Italian Catholic priest and diplomat for the Holy See, who became Cardinal Secretary of State. He was an important figure behind the Vatican's efforts to deal with the religious persec ...

, until being transferred, in April 1978, to the Section for the Relations with States under

Achille Silvestrini Achille Silvestrini (25 October 1923 – 29 August 2019) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served in the Vatican diplomatic corps, either in Rome or abroad, from 1953 to 1990, and later as Prefect of the Congregation for the O ...

. At the end of the 1984 he was assigned to the

Apostolic Nunciature An apostolic nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See that is equivalent to an embassy. However, it neither issues visas nor has consul (representative), consulates. The head of the apostolic nunciature is called a ''nuncio ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, at that time still the

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, where he worked until the summer of 1987 when he was transferred to the Nunicature to the United States in Washington. Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci Of Loreto

On 21 October 1989 Tonucci was appointed

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 Torcello and Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia. He was consecrated a bishop on 6 January 1990 by

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 ...

, with co-consecrators Msgr.

Giovanni Battista Re Giovanni Battista Re (born 30 January 1934) is an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who has served as Dean of the College of Cardinals since 2020. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal in 2001 and s ...

and Msgr.

Miroslav Stefan Marusyn Miroslav Stefan Marusyn (26 June 1924 in Kniaze – 21 September 2009) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic archbishop who served as the Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches (also called the ...

. On 9 March 1996 he was named the Apostolic Nuncio to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The role of Permanent Observer Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN Environment and Human Settlements Programs (

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

/ UN–HABITAT) was added the next year. On 16 October 2004,

appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

Later offices

On 18 October 2007

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 Prelate of

Territorial Prelature of Loreto The Territorial Prelature of Loreto () is a Latin Church territorial prelature of the Catholic Church which was elevated to this status on 24 June 1965. The Holy House of Loreto is located in it. The metropolitan see is the Archdiocese of Ancona ...

and

Pontifical Delegate A Pontifical Delegate is a cleric who is delegated by the Pope. Specifically, this title is used for the following ecclesiastical offices in the gift of the Pope (who is Pontifex Maximus, hence the adjective): * a prelate (usually an Archbishop ...

for the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto.

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 him Pontifical Delegate for the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua on 8 March 2014, and accepted his resignation from both these positions on 20 May 2017.

Family

His brother Paolo Maria Tonucci was a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

in Brazil from 1965 to 1994. He conducted a battle for the rights of the poor people against the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, which led to his being characterized as "unworthy" of Brazilian citizenship.
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Works

* Giovanni Tonucci, ''"God's letter to me – 101 questions and answers on the Bible"''. * Giovanni Tonucci, Roberto Ansuini; ''"Don Paolo"''. Text by Paolo Tonucci nd oth. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Fano, Grapho 5, 2004. * Giovanni Tonucci, ''"Visioni di un pellegrino. Le foto di Mzee Mwenda"''. Edited in Italian and English, Velar, 2006. . * Giovanni Tonucci, Massimo Ciavaglia, ''"El Vangel cum l'ha scrit San Marc"''. (dialect of Fano), Ven. Confraternitas Sanctae Mariae Suffragii, Fano, 2007.

References

;Additional sources *

External links