John Gordon (25 July 1912 – 30 January 1981) was an Irish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

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

Gordon was born at Clarecastle, County Clare and ordained to the priesthood on 7 March 1936. On 10 February 1962,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

appointed him Apostolic Delegate to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and the Malacca Peninsula, as well as Titular Archbishop of Nicopolis ad Nestum. His episcopal consecration took place on 24 June 1962. The principal consecrator was

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Amleto Giovanni Cicognani Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (24 February 1883 – 17 December 1973) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969, and Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1972 until his death. Cicogn ...

, and the co-consecrators were Archbishop Leone Giovanni Battista Nigris and Bishop Patrick Joseph Dunne.

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Northern Africa on 27 February 1965. On 14 July 1967, Pope Paul named him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

and on 16 July 1967 Apostolic Delegate to Southern Africa. On 11 August 1971, he was named Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India. On 11 June 1976 he was named Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to 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 ...

References

External links

catholic-hierarchy.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, John Apostolic nuncios to India Apostolic nuncios to Thailand Apostolic nuncios to the Netherlands Apostolic nuncios to Lesotho Apostolic nuncios to South Africa 1912 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic titular archbishops Christian clergy from County Clare Place of death missing Irish Roman Catholic titular archbishops