By 1996 he was Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia and in 1999 he moved on to Peru.
On 8 November 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal.[2]
He also served in the Apostolic Nunciature in Australia in the late 1970s and in the United Kingdom under Apostolic Nuncio Barbaroto.
Portugal
Criticism
The criticism started shortly after he started his tenure in Portugal and refused to disclose his criteria for the selection of new potential candidates for bishops to the Episcopal Conference of Portugal.[3]
Passagiato was accused by the Portuguese catholic clergy of taking "deplorable" and "inhumane" decisions regarding the affairs of the Holy See in Portugal. Portuguese bishops and clergy accused Passagiato of favouring bishop's candidates who are "traditionalists" and "career oriented", and of "not listening to people".
The suggestion of Bishop dos Santos, made to Pope, was resisted, in the beginning, by the appointee and shortly before his appointment was made official two priests from Aveiro appealed to Passigato's piety due to the poor heart condition of Bishop dos Santos who himself feared not being capable of heading a bigger diocese.[3] Bishop dos Santos would die 3 years after his appointment to Porto due to heart attack.[3]
João Lavrador case
João Lavrador, current Bishop of Angra, also pleaded Nuncio Passigato for his piety to not be appointed as bishop at the time in order to be able to assist his bedridden parents. Passigato refused such plead and had Lavrador appointed as bishop in 2015; shortly afterward his father died in April 2016 and his mother in January 2017. In this regard Passigato was accused of not taking into consideration Catholic family values.[3]
