Nunciature to Great Britain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nunciature to Great Britain is an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain with the rank of an ambassador. The office of the nunciature is located in London, lying within the Archdiocese of Southwark and overlooking Wimbledon Common.
Formal diplomatic relations between England and the Vatican were established in 1479, upon the appointment of John Shirwood as the first resident Ambassador. In 1534, these diplomatic ties were destroyed during the English Reformation; they were eventually restored in 1914, as an Apostolic Delegation. The Apostolic Delegation to Great Britain was promoted to the rank of an Apostolic Nunciature by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
The current Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain is His Excellency Faustino Sainz Muñoz, who was appointed by John Paul II on December 11, 2004.
[edit] List of Apostolic Delegates and Nuncios to Great Britain
- Ferdinando d'Adda (1687 - 1690)
- William Godfrey (1938 - 1953)
- Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (1954 - 1963)
- Igino Eugenio Cardinale (1963 - 1969)
- Domenico Enrici (1969 - 1973)
- Bruno Bernard Heim (1973 - 1985)
- Luigi Barbarito (1986 - 1997)
- Pablo Puente Buces (1997 - 2004)
- Faustino Sainz Muñoz (2004 - present)
