Thomas A. White (12 August 1931 – 7 May 2017) was an archbishop of the

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who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, serving in Africa, China, Latin America, and the Pacific region. He once described his career as "gypsy for the sake of the Kingdom".

Biography

Thomas Anthony White was born in Durrow, County Laois,

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, on 12 August 1931, one of five children. He attended Cullohill National School and then

St Kieran's College St Kieran's College (Coláiste Chiaráin) is a Roman Catholic secondary school, located on College Road, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. History St Kieran's College was founded in Kilkenny, in the diocese of Ossory in 1782, after the pas ...

, Kilkenny, where he excelled in academics and hurling. White was ordained to the priesthood on 25 February 1956 and briefly taught canon law at St. Kieran's. To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1958. His first assignment took him to Nairobi, where the Apostolic Delegation to Eastern Africa was preparing for developing diplomatic relations with the countries of the region as they achieved their independence. He later worked in Latin America and Switzerland. His last staff assignment was in China, first on the mainland and then in the nunciature's new location in Taiwan. On 27 May 1978,

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appointed him titular archbishop of Sabiona and served

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 Rwanda. He received his episcopal consecration on 30 July 1978 from Cardinal

Agnelo Rossi Agnelo Rossi (4 May 1913 – 21 May 1995) was a Brazilian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Biography Rossi was born on 4 May 1913 in Joaquim Egidio, Brazil, in the Diocese of Campinas. In 1933 h ...

On 1 March 1983,

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named him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Ethiopia. Famine relief was the central occupation of his time there. He suffered a heart attack in 1988. On 14 October 1989, he was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to New Zealand and Fiji as well as Apostolic Delegate to Oceania. On 1 December 1992, he received the additional title of Apostolic Nuncio to Nauru. On 31 July 1995 he was named Apostolic Nuncio to Kiribati as well. He left the diplomatic service upon his replacement in several of his posts by

Patrick Coveney Patrick Coveney (29 July 1934 – 22 October 2022) was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1966 to 2009. He became an archbishop in 1985 and fulfilled several assignments as Aposto ...

on 27 April 1996. In retirement he lived in

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, a Dublin suburb, and continued to fill special assignments for the Vatican Secretariat of State. He settled finally at a nursing home in Kilkenny where he died on 7 May 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Thomas A. 1931 births 2017 deaths Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni Irish Roman Catholic archbishops Apostolic Nuncios to Rwanda Apostolic Nuncios to New Zealand Apostolic Nuncios to Fiji Apostolic Nuncios to Nauru Apostolic Nuncios to Samoa Apostolic Nuncios to the Pacific Ocean Apostolic Nuncios to Ethiopia Irish Roman Catholic titular bishops Diplomats of the Holy See People from Durrow, County Laois Christian clergy from County Laois