Angelo Acerbi: The eldest Cardinal-Elect

At 99 years old, former Apostolic Nuncio Angelo Acerbi is the only cardinal-elect ineligible to vote in the next conclave.

Acerbi served as the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio in New Zealand and Apostolic Delegate for the Islands of the South Pacific from 1974 to 1979. (Edited photograph with Cardinal John Dew.)

Now retired, he resides in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta.

In addition to his association with New Zealand, Acerbi's diplomatic career included being held hostage by guerillas in Colombia and becoming the first nuncio to Hungary after the end of communism.

During the New Zealand bishops' Ad Limina visit to Rome in 2019, they met with Acerbi.

Then, Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe noted that Acerbi enjoyed good health and maintained an excellent memory.

Fr Timothy Radcliffe

Among the new cardinals is Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, a theologian and former master of the Dominicans from England.

A Cardinal working Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific

Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR, based in Melbourne, leads the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy for Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.

Bychok's journey to cardinalate includes:

Ordination as a priest on May 3, 2005, in the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv

Service as a missionary in Russia and as a superior and pastor in Ukraine

Appointment by Pope Francis as the Eparch of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne in January 2020

Episcopal ordination in St George's Cathedral, Lviv, in June 2020

Installation as Bishop of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne on July 12, 2021

Sources

• Crux
• America
• Reuters
• CathNews NZ

Acerbi's diplomatic career included being held hostage by guerillas in Colombia and becoming the first nuncio to Hungary after the end of communism.

Now 94, Acerbi is retired and lives in the Vatican in the Casa Santa Marta guest house, the home of Pope Francis and where the New Zealand bishops are staying during their Ad Limina.

The archbishop's very first appointment as Apostolic Nuncio was to New Zealand and the Pacific from 1974 to 1979.

Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe says Archbishop Acerbi enjoys good health and maintains a fantastic memory.

"He has enjoyed connecting with us during our visit," said Lowe.

"As bishops, we have often commented about the loneliness of the life of a nuncio, but Acerbi has a wealth of stories of encounters in New Zealand and the Pacific with clergy, religious and laypeople."

Italian-born Acerbi was ordained in 1948, so this is his 71st year ordained.

His Wellington-based nuncio appointment was followed by others in Colombia, Hungary, Moldova and the Netherlands.

In 1980 he was held hostage with 26 other diplomats for several weeks in Bogotá, Colombia, after an assault by the M-19 urban guerilla group on the Embassy of the Dominican Republic.

His appointment to Hungary in 1990 after the end of communism was significant because there had been no apostolic nuncio to that country since the communist takeover in 1945.

"He still has an active interest in our region and the life of the Church and society in our part of the world," said Lowe.

"He clearly has a beautiful faith and love that reflects a life of faithful service of the Lord and his Church. His presence has been one of the unexpected joys of these days in Rome."

Photo caption: from left Bishop Paul Martin SM (Christchurch), Bishop Patrick Dunn (Auckland), Cardinal John Dew (Wellington) Archbishop Angelo Acerbi, Bishop Stephen Lowe (Hamilton) and Bishop Michael Dooley (Dunedin).

Source
Supplied. David McLoughlin
Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops
Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa