Antonio Lucibello (born 25 February 1942) is an Italian prelate of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who worked in the diplomatic service of the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...
from 1971 to 2016. He has held the rank of archbishop and apostolic nuncio since 1995.
Biography
Antonio Lucibello was born on 25 February 1942 in
Spezzano Albanese
Spezzano Albanese ( Arbëreshë: ''Spixan'') is a municipality in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy.
It is located on a 320 m high hill commanding the plain of Sibari and the Esaro river valley. It originated from Albani ...
,
Calabria,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. He was ordained a priest on 23 July 1967. He studied at the
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1971. He filled positions in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Panama, Ethiopia, Haiti, Argentina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zaire, Yugoslavia, Greece and Ireland. On 8 September 1995,
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
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 Thurio and Apostolic Nuncio to Gambia, Guinea and Liberia, as well as Apostolic Delegate to Sierra Leone.
He received his episcopal consecration from
Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano on 4 November 1995.
On 27 July 1999, John Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
.
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
appointed him
Apostolic Nuncio to Türkiye and
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
on 27 August 2005. During his service in these posts, a Catholic priest was murdered in Ankara in February 2006, Pope Benedict visited Türkiye in December 2006, Bishop
Luigi Padovese
Luigi Padovese (31 March 1947 – 3 June 2010) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who became a bishop and served as the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia in Turkey. He was a Franciscan and a scholar who devoted most of his career to teachin ...
of the
Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia
The Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia ( la, Vicariatus Apostolicus Anatoliensis, tr, Anadolu Havarisel Vekilliği) is a Roman Catholic Latin apostolic vicariate in the eastern half of Anatolia (Asian Turkey).
The missionary pre-diocesan jurisd ...
was murdered in 2010, and in 2015 Türkiye recalled its ambassador to the Holy See after Pope Francis used the word "genocide" to describe the deaths of Armenians in Ottoman Türkiye.
With the appointment of his successor
Paul Fitzpatrick Russell
Paul Fitzpatrick Russell (born May 2, 1959) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in May 2022. He was previously the Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Azerbai ...
on 19 March 2016, Lucibello ended his active service as nuncio.
See also
*
List of heads of the diplomatic missions of the Holy See
The following is a sortable list of the heads of the diplomatic mission of the Holy See. 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 repres ...
Notes
References
;Additional sources
* Brief review of his principal assignments with quotes.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucibello, Antonio
Living people
Apostolic Nuncios to the Gambia
Apostolic Nuncios to Guinea
Apostolic Nuncios to Liberia
Apostolic Nuncios to Sierra Leone
Apostolic Nuncios to Paraguay
Apostolic Nuncios to Turkey
Apostolic Nuncios to Turkmenistan
People from the Province of Cosenza
1942 births