Luciano Storero (26 September 1926 – 1 October 2000) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church 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 ...

Biography

Luciano Storero was born in

Pinasca Pinasca is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin in the Val Chisone. Pinasca borders the following municipalities: Giaveno, Perosa Argentina, Cumiana, Pine ...

, Italy, on 26 September 1926. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1949. To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1951. He joined the diplomatic service in 1953 and his early assignments took him to Egypt, Japan, and Ireland. On 25 November 1969,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo 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 to his death in Augus ...

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 Tigimma and Apostolic Delegate to Ceylon. He received his episcopal consecration on 1 February 1970 from Cardinal

Jean-Marie Villot Jean-Marie Villot (11 October 1905 – 9 March 1979) was a French prelate and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1965 to 1967, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1967 to 1969, Vatican Secre ...

. On 24 December 1970, Storero was appointed

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; 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 ...

to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. He was named Pro-Nuncio to

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

and to

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and Apostolic Delegate to Equatorial Guinea on 30 June 1973. He was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India on 14 July 1976. He was named Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela on 2 February 1981.

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 Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Greece on 28 June 1990. On 15 November 1995, he was appointed the tenth

Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland The Apostolic Nunciature to Ireland the diplomatic mission of the Holy See to Ireland. It is located in Dublin. The position of Apostolic Nuncio is currently vacant. The Apostolic Nunciature to Ireland is an ecclesiastical office of the Cathol ...

. After the Irish bishops devised a mandatory reporting policy in 1996 that bishops could adopt for use in their diocese, Storero warned them in 1997 that Vatican's

Congregation for the Clergy The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regardi ...

opposed implementing a policy that included mandatory reporting to civil authorities. In 1999, he was sued in civil court along with Brendan Comiskey, Bishop of Ferns, by a man who said he had been sexually abused by a priest and that the nunciature had taken no action when informed in the mid-1980s. After fighting cancer for years, Storero arranged to retire before turning 75. He was planning his return to his native village when he died in a Dublin hospital on 1 October 2000 while still in his post.

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