Saturday, February 18, 2012

Bertello: Bertone’s loyal globetrotter

Before taking charge of the Vatican City’s Governorate -  the bureaucratic/administration machine of the world’s smallest State - Giuseppe Bertello represented the Pope in Apostolic Nunciatures in every corner of the globe, including Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela, the UN offices in Geneva and even in Ghana, Togo, Benin, Rwanda and Mexico.

Born in 1942, in Foglizzo, in the Canavese area of the Province of Turin, which is also the birthplace the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, to whom the archbishop is extremely loyal, Bertello was ordained priest in 1966 and appointed archbishop in 1987.

In 1971 he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See. On 12 January 1991, John Paul II assigned him the task of representing him in Rwanda. As of 1994, Bertello was to become witness to the most dramatic and bloody phase of the war between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups.

These were difficult times for the nuncio who on more than one occasion had to seek protection from the Blue Helmets (who had even advised him to leave the Country), often risking his life but never abandoning his post.

In March 1995, Pope John Paul II called him back to Europe, assigning him the post of Permanent Observer to the United Nations. 

In 2000 he was appointed Nuncio to Mexico and it was he who welcomed the elderly Pope to the Country on 30 July 2002, on the John Paul II’s apostolic visit for the canonization of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, the young prophet from Guadalupe.

In January 2007, Bertello was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Italy and the Republic of San Marino, a post he held until his election to the Governorate.