Monsignor Giovanni Tonucci (born December 4, 1941 in Fano, PU, Italy) is a Latin Rite Italian archbishop of the Catholic Church. He was recently named the Territorial Prelate of Loreto. His previous post was as the Apostolic Nuncio (Papal ambassador) to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
Contents |
From 1971 till the end of 1973 his diplomatic career brought him first to Yaoundé, Cameroon, then, from 1974 to 1976 he was in London, United Kingdom. From July 1976 he was back in Rome, assigned to the Section for General Affairs of the Holy See Secretariat of State where he worked with Monsignor Agostino Casaroli, until being transferred, in April 1978, to the Section for the Relations with States under the guide of Msgr. Achille Silvestrini. At the end of the 1984 he was assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature in Belgrade, at that time still the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where he worked until the summer of 1987 before being transferred to the Nunicature to the United States in Washington, D.C., USA.
On October 21, 1989 Tonucci was appointed Titular Archbishop of Torcello and Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia. He was consecrated as a Bishop on January 6, 1990 by Pope John Paul II as principal consecrator, with principal co-consecrators Msgr. Giovanni Battista Re and Msgr. Miroslav Stefan Marusyn. He remained in Bolivia until March 9, 1996 when he was named the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and the Permant Observer of the Holy See to the UN Environment and Human Settlements Programs (UNEP/UN–HABITAT).
Since October 16, 2004 he has been the Apostolic Nuncio (with residence in Stockholm) to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, where he succeed Msgr. Piero Biggio.
On October 18, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Prelate of Territorial Prelature of Loreto and Pontifical Delegate for the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto.
His brother, don Paolo Maria Tonucci has been a missionary in Brazil from 1965 to 1994, during which he courageously conducted a battle for the rights of the poor people against the usurpations of the military dictatorship, fights that cost to him the title of "unworthy person" to receive the Brazilian citizenship.[1]
| Preceded by ? |
Alternate Permanent Observer to the OAS 1987 – October 21, 1989 |
Succeeded by ? |
| Preceded by Gino Paro |
Archbishop of Torcello October 21, 1989 – October 18, 2007 |
Succeeded by Gianfranco Gardin |
| Preceded by Santos Abril y Castelló |
Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia October 21, 1989 – March 9, 1996 |
Succeeded by Giacomo Guido Ottonello |
| Preceded by Clemente Faccani |
Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya March 9, 1996 – October 16, 2004 |
Succeeded by Alain Paul Charles Lebeaupin |
| Preceded by None |
Permanent Observer to UNEP/UN-HABITAT 1997 – October 16, 2004 |
Succeeded by Alain Paul Charles Lebeaupin |
| Preceded by Piero Biggio |
Apostolic Nuncio to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway October 16, 2004 – October 18, 2007 |
Succeeded by Emil Paul Tscherrig |
| Preceded by Gianni Danzi |
Prelate of Loreto October 18, 2007 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |