Leopoldo Girelli (born 13 March 1953) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who serves as the apostolic nuncio to India and Nepal. He was nuncio to Israel and Cyprus as well as apostolic delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine from 2017 to 2021. He has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1987 and previously served as nuncio to Indonesia, East Timor, and Singapore.
He was ordained a priest on 17 June 1978 and incardinated in the diocese of Bergamo. He graduated in theology.[1] To prepare for the diplomatic service, he completed a course of study at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1984.[2]
Diplomatic career
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 13 July 1987 and worked in the papal diplomatic missions in Cameroon and New Zealand at the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, and finally in the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States where he held the rank of Counsellor.[1]
On 13 April 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and titular Archbishop of Capreae.[1] He was consecrated bishop on 17 June, with Cardinal Angelo Sodano as principal consecrator.[3] On 10 October 2006, he was appointed apostolic nuncio to East Timor in addition to his duties as nuncio to Indonesia.[4]
^When diplomatic relations with Malaysia were established on 27 July 2011, Girelli continued, pending the appointment of the first nuncio to that country, to act as non-diplomatic Apostolic Delegate for Malaysia, accredited to the Catholic Church in the country but not to the Government.[6] The 2012 Annuario Pontificio gave no indication of where the first Nuncio to Malaysia was to be resident, whether in Malaysia, Singapore or elsewhere.[7]
^His appointment was approved by the Vietnamese Government, although Apostolic Delegates, being accredited not to the Government but to the Church in the country, are normally assigned without prior consultation of the Government. Accordingly, the 2012 Annuario Pontificio, the first edition published after the change, classified the papal representative office for Vietnam as an Apostolic Delegation, but referred to Archbishop Girelli not as an Apostolic Delegate but as Papal Representative for Vietnam.[9]