Luciano Storero

Luciano Storero was born in Pinasca, Italy, on 26 September 1926. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1949.

To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1951.[2] He joined the diplomatic service in 1953[3] and his early assignments took him to Egypt, Japan, and Ireland.[4]

On 25 November 1969, Pope Paul VI appointed him Titular Archbishop of Tigimma[5] and Apostolic Delegate to Ceylon.[6] He received his episcopal consecration on 1 February 1970 from Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot.[7]

On 24 December 1970, Storero was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic.[8][lower-alpha 1]

He was named Pro-Nuncio to Gabon and to Cameroon and Apostolic Delegate to Equatorial Guinea on 30 June 1973.[9]

He was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India on 14 July 1976.[10]

He was named Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela on 2 February 1981.[11]

Pope John Paul II appointed him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Greece on 28 June 1990.[12]

On 15 November 1995, he was appointed the tenth Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland.[13] After the Irish bishops devised a mandatory reporting policy in 1996 that bishops could adopt for use in their diocese, Storero warned them in 1997 that Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy opposed implementing a policy that included mandatory reporting to civil authorities.[14][15][lower-alpha 2] In 1999, he was sued in civil court along with Brendan Comiskey, Bishop of Ferns, by a man who said he had been sexually abused by a priest and that the nunciature had taken no action when informed in the mid-1980s.[16]

After fighting cancer for years, Storero arranged to retire before turning 75. He was planning his return to his native village when he died in a Dublin hospital on 1 October 2000 while still in his post.[4]