Mario Roberto Cassari (27 August 1943 – 19 August 2017) was an Italian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

archbishop and diplomat. He joined 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 Rome ...

in 1977 and served as apostolic nuncio in several countries from the time he became an archbishop in 1999 until he retired in 2016.

Biography

Mario Roberto Cassari was born in

Ghilarza Ghilarza ( sc, Ilàrtzi) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about northeast of Oristano. Antonio Gramsci, political philosopher and founder of the Ita ...

Oristano Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, Italy on 27 August 1943. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ampurias-Tempio on 27 December 1969. He obtained a degree in theology and a licentiate in canon law at

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Ponti ...

in Rome. From 1969 to 1974 he was parochial vicar at the Cathedral of

Tempio Pausania Tempio Pausania (; sdn, Tèmpiu) is a town of about 14,000 inhabitants in the Gallura region of northern Sardinia, Italy, in the province of Sassari. History Cultural and delegated administrative centre of the Gallura sub-region, Tempio has an ...

, taught school, was a bishop’s secretary and studied pedagogy at the

University of Sassari The University of Sassari ( it, Università degli Studi di Sassari, UniSS) is a university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 13 departments. The University of Sassari earned first place in the rankings for t ...

. He then studied at 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 Rome and entered the diplomatic service of the

on 22 March 1977. He worked in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Pakistan, Colombia, Ecuador, Sudan, South Africa, Japan, Austria, Lithuania (Latvia/Estonia), Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro) and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1987, when the departure of the Apostolic Nunzio to South Africa

Joseph Mees Joseph Mees (18 April 1923 – 9 December 2001) was a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, including almost twenty years as an Apostolic Nuncio. Biography Joseph Mees was born in B ...

left him temporarily in charge of the nunciature there, he addressed a meeting of South Africa’s bishops and directly contradicted Mees' position that Pope John Paul’s strictures against involvement in politics applied to South Africa bishops under

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. He received a standing ovation when he said: On 3 August 1999

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 ...

Tronto The Tronto ( la, Truentus) is a long Italian river that arises at Monti della Laga and ends in the Adriatic Sea at Porto d'Ascoli, San Benedetto del Tronto. It traverses the Lazio, Marche, and Abruzzo regions of Italy. The source of the Tront ...

and Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of the Congo and Gabon. He received his episcopal consecration on 16 October 1999. On 31 July 2004 John Paul appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, and on 8 September 2004 also Apostolic Nuncio to Niger. His assignments in Burkina Faso and Niger ended with the appointment of his successor on 12 June 2007. On 14 February 2008

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 sovereign ...

named him Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia. On 10 March 2012 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland, adding Lesotho a week later.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

named him Apostolic Nuncio to Malta on 22 May 2015. He retired in April 2017 and died on 19 August 2017.

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