Antoine Camilleri (born 20 August 1965) is a Maltese prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Under-Secretary for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, until he was named an archbishop and given the title of apostolic nuncio in 2019. He joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1999.
Biography
Camilleri was born in Sliema, Malta on 20 August 1965. He attended St. Joseph's School, Sliema, and St. Aloysius' College, Birkirkara. He graduated Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 1988.
He was ordained to the priesthood on 5 July 1991 and was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Malta. He served as vice parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Gzira (1991–92). To study canon law he entered the Pontifical Lateran University in 1992 and obtained a doctorate. In 1996 he was appointed Defender of the Bond at the Archdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal (1996–97) of Malta.[1]
Diplomatic career
He attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy[2] and on 9 January 1999 joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He served in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Papua New Guinea (1999–2002), Uganda (2002–05), and Cuba (2005–06), and then in Rome in the offices of the Secretariat of State.[1]
On 22 February 2013, a few days before the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI from the papacy, he was appointed to replace Ettore Balestrero as Under-Secretary for Relations with States.[3] In that position, roughly equivalent to that of a deputy foreign minister, he played a role in negotiations with many nations, including Israel,[4][5] Palestine,[6] China,[7][8] and Vietnam.[9][10] Speaking on 27 February 2019 at a debate on migration at the United Nations, he said:[11]
If someone were listening to the news for the very first time today, they might assume that migration is synonymous with border insecurity, humanitarian disaster, and human trafficking. The time-tested truth that migration is largely regular, the sign of a healthy economy and the bedrock of many modern nation-states rarely make the news. Yet, when we take a closer look at our own personal history or that of the communities and countries where we live together, one easily recognizes the obvious: migration, especially when it is well-managed, safe, orderly and regular, makes an undeniably positive and necessary contribution to the development of culture, the economy, and society.
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