Agostino Marchetto (born 28 August 1940) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1968 to 1999 and then in the Roman Curia until his retirement in 2010. He is regarded as one of the principal historians of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

Early career and diplomacy

Agostino Marchetto was born in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

, Italy, on 28 August 1940. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Vicenza on 28 June 1964. To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered 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 ...

in 1964. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1968 and worked in the offices of the papal representative to Zambia, Cuba, Algeria, Portugal, and Mozambique. On 31 August 1985,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him titular archbishop of Astigi and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to both

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on 1 November 1985 from Cardinal

Sebastiano Baggio Sebastiano Baggio (16 May 1913 – 21 March 1993) was an Italian cardinal, often thought to be a likely candidate for election to the papacy. He served as President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State from 1984 to 1990 and was P ...

. On 7 December 1990, Pope John Paul named him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Tanzania. On 18 May 1994, Pope John Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus. He took up a position in the offices of the Secretariat of State in Rome on 16 April 1996. On 8 July 1999, Pope John Paul appointed him Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the international food and agriculture organizations based in Rome:

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

IFAD The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD; french: link=no, Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA)) is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to address ...

, PAM, and CMA.

Advocacy as a Curial official

On 6 November 2001, he was named Secretary of the

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People ( la, Pontificium Consilium de Spirituali Migrantium atque Itinerantium Cura) was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia. The council, established by Pope John Paul I ...

. In that role he frequently commented on current issues in language calculated to draw headlines. In 2006, Marchetto tied the World Cup in Germany to human trafficking for prostitution, giving “some 'red cards' ... to this industry, to its clients", and the host country. In 2007, he called homelessness a "global pandemic" that merits a global response on the scale of to HIV/AIDS. In 2009, he criticized the

Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

government of Italy for repatriating Libyans intercepted at sea. He objected to a new Italian immigration law that made clandestine movement a criminal offense, calling that feature the law's "original sin". He denounced the

Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sei ...

government in France for expelling

Roma people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

en masse, assigning collective guilt and ignoring individual responsibility. He resigned his curial position on 25 August 2010.

Historian of the Second Vatican Council

Marchetto is a prominent interpreter of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchetto, Agostino 1940 births Living people Religious leaders from the Province of Brescia Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni Apostolic Nuncios to Madagascar Apostolic Nuncios to Tanzania Apostolic Nuncios to Mauritius Apostolic Nuncios to Belarus Officials of the Roman Curia