Adriano Bernardini (born 13 August 1942) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who occupied positions in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from the 1970s until he retired in 2017. His first assignment as Apostolic Nuncio was to Bangladesh (1992–1995) and his last to Italy (2011–2017). He has been an archbishop since 1992.

Biography

On 31 March 1968, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rome by Cardinal

Egidio Cardinal Vagnozzi Egidio Vagnozzi (26 February 1906 – 26 December 1980) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the second president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See from 1968 until his death, and was elevated to ...

. He attended the

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy ( la, Pontificia Ecclesiastica Academia, it, Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic c ...

to study diplomacy and earn a doctorate in canon law. His first assignment in the diplomatic service of the Holy See was in the Apostolic Nunciature to Pakistan, which also follows events in Afghanistan. He later worked in the nunciatures to Angola, Japan, Venezuela and Spain. On 17 January 1989 he was appointed chargé d'affaires of the nunciature in Taiwan. On 20 August 1992, just days after his 50th birthday, he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Falerii and Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh. He received his episcopal consecration on 15 November 1992 from Cardinal

Angelo Sodano Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC (23 November 1927 – 27 May 2022) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and from 1991 on a cardinal. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019 and Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 ...

. Bernardini remained in Bangladesh until 15 June 1996, when he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles. He was next appointed Nuncio to Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia and Apostolic Delegate to Burma, Laos, Malaysia and Brunei on 24 July 1999. Pope John Paul II named him

Apostolic Nuncio to Argentina The Apostolic Nunciature to Argentina the diplomatic mission of the Holy See to Argentina. It is located at the Fernández Anchorena Palace, in Buenos Aires. The current Apostolic Nuncio is Archbishop Mirosław Adamczyk, who was named to the pos ...

on 26 April 2003. His years there were marked by sharp differences between the Argentine bishops, notably Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (later Pope Francis), and Bernardini as representative of Secretary of State Cardinal

. Pope Benedict XVI named him Nuncio to Italy and San Marino on 15 November 2011. In 2014, he conducted an investigation into charges of scandalous behavior by priests in the

Diocese of Albenga-Imperia In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

, which led to further investigation and the removal of a bishop. His career in the diplomatic service ended on 12 September 2017, when he was replaced as Nuncio to Italy by the first non-Italian to hold the position since Italy and the Holy See established full diplomatic ties in 1929. On 4 October 2017, Pope Francis named him a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

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Biography

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