Giuseppe Leanza KC*HS (born 2 January 1943) was born in

Cesarò Cesarò is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italy, Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. It is included in the Parco dei Nebrodi. References

C ...

, Italy. and ordained on 17 July 1966.

Diplomatic career

After being awarded a Doctorate in Canon Law, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1972 and served at the pontifical representations in

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 ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, the United States and in the

section for relations with states The Section for Relations with States or Second Section of the Secretariat of State is the body within the Roman Curia charged with dealing with matters that involve relations with civil governments. It has been part of the Vatican Secretariat of ...

in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

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

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 ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

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 ...

Lilybaeum Marsala (, ; ) is an Italian comune located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth largest in Sicily.The town is famous for the docking of Giuseppe Garibald ...

3 July 1990. He was consecrated bishop on 22 September 1990 by Secretary of State to His Holiness, Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, serving as principal consecrator, with Cardinal

Pio Laghi Pio Laghi (21 May 1922 – 10 January 2009) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. His service was primarily in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and the Roman Curia. He served as Apostolic nuncio to several countries and as the ...

and Bishop

Ignazio Zambito Ignazio () is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: Arts *Ignazio Collino (1736–1793), Italian sculptor *Ignazio Gardella (1905–1999), Italian architect and designer * Ignazio Hugford (1703–1777), Italian pai ...

as Principal Co–Consecrators. He was appointed apostolic nuncio to

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and pro-nuncio to

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

on 4 June 1991 and then nuncio to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

on 29 April 1999. He was named nuncio to

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

on 15 May 2002, to which the title nuncio to

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

was added three days later. On 22 February 2003 he was appointed nuncio to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Nuncio to Ireland

On 22 February 2008,

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

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He arrived in Ireland on 22 April and presented his

credentials A credential is a piece of any document that details a qualification, competence, or authority issued to an individual by a third party with a relevant or '' de facto'' authority or assumed competence to do so. Examples of credentials include ac ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, ...

on 28 April 2008. Besides his native Italian, he speaks English, French, Serbo-Croat and Spanish.

Murphy Report

In the

Murphy Report The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a fe ...

on abuse of children in the Dublin diocese, published on 26 November 2009, mention was made of Archbishop Leanza and his predecessor, Archbishop Lazzarotto. In September 2006, the commission wrote to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...

seeking information on reports of clerical child sex abuse sent to it by the Dublin archdiocese over the relevant 30-year period. It also sought information on the document '' Crimen sollicitationis'', which dealt with crimes that include the sexual abuse of minors. In reply, it contacted the Irish

Department of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

, stating that the commission had not gone through appropriate diplomatic channels. As a body independent of Government, the commission said it did not consider it appropriate to use diplomatic channels. Archbishop Leanza declined an invitation to address the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, a decision described as "scandalous" by Fine Gael's then-spokesperson on children, Alan Shatter. Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza was invited to appear before the committee following calls for his expulsion after the Murphy commission revealed that the papal nuncio had refused to co-operate with its inquiry into clerical abuse in the Dublin diocese. In a letter to committee chairman Michael Woods, Archbishop Leanza said "it is not the practice of the Holy See that apostolic nuncios appear before parliamentary commissions". The letter, dated 12 February, said: "As the papal representative, I am always available to examine questions of mutual interest in the relations between the Holy See and Ireland through contacts with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as has been the norm hitherto.

Ryan report

The then-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin TD, met with Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza on 8 December 2009 to discuss the findings of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation and the issue of the cooperation of the Nuncio and the Holy See with the Commission. The Minister conveyed to the Papal Nuncio the deep anger and outrage of the Irish public at the appalling abuse of children detailed in the report. The Minister explained to the Papal Nuncio the need for the Holy See to provide the fullest possible cooperation with any further State investigations in relation to clerical child abuse, in particular in the context of the inquiry by the Commission into the Diocese of Cloyne. In the Irish Parliament, The Dáil, Minister Martin said: "Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, called to Iveagh House at my request on Tuesday of last week to discuss the report of the Dublin archdiocese commission of investigation, and the issue of the co-operation received by the commission from the Holy See and successive Papal Nuncios as it carried out its investigations. At this meeting, I conveyed to the Papal Nuncio the deep anger and outrage of the Irish public at the appalling abuse of children detailed in the commission's report. I emphasised to Archbishop Leanza the importance of the Vatican providing a substantive response to inquiries from the commission. I explained to the Nuncio the need for the Holy See to provide the fullest possible co-operation with any ongoing or further State investigations into clerical child abuse, including in the context of the upcoming inquiry by the commission into the diocese of Cloyne. The Nuncio undertook to convey my strong view that the Vatican should co-operate with any request from the Dublin and Cloyne commission or any future commission to co-operate with any request for information." Archbishop Leanza attended all meetings at the Vatican during the 15–16 February 2010 summit involving Pope Benedict, senior Curial cardinals and the Irish bishops. However, he did not contribute to proceedings nor did he or the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Bertone make any reference at the various sessions to the decision of Archbishop Leanza not to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly 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 archdio ...

Dermot Clifford Dermot Clifford, (born 25 January 1939), was the Catholic Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in Ireland from 1988 to 2014. From 7 March 2009 to 27 January 2013, he also served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Cloyne. He was a foundi ...

Cloyne report

The day after the

Cloyne Cloyne () is a small town located to the southeast of Midleton in eastern County Cork, Ireland. It is also a see city of the Anglican (Church of Ireland) Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, while also giving its name to a Roman Catholic dioce ...

report was published on 13 July 2011, Archbishop Leanza met Minister for Foreign Affairs,

Eamon Gilmore Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is an Irish diplomat and former Labour Party politician. He has served as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He has also been the European Union Special Envoy for th ...

. On 25 July 2011, he was recalled to the Secretariat of State for consultations as a sign, among other things, of "surprise and disappointment at certain excessive reactions".

Nuncio to the Czech Republic

On 15 September 2011,

appointed Leanza Nuncio to the Czech Republic, remaining in the post until 21 September 2018, having been replaced by South Sudan nuncio Charles Daniel Balvo.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leanza, Giuseppe 1943 births Apostolic nuncios to Ireland Apostolic nuncios to Bosnia and Herzegovina Apostolic nuncios to Slovenia Apostolic nuncios to North Macedonia Apostolic nuncios to Bulgaria Apostolic nuncios to the Czech Republic Apostolic nuncios to Haiti Apostolic nuncios to Zambia Apostolic nuncios to Malawi 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Living people Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Ireland