Alfio Rapisarda | |
Appointed: | 12 October 2002 |
Retired: | 8 November 2008 |
Predecessor: | Edoardo Rovida |
Successor: | Rino Passigato |
Ordination: | 14 July 1957 |
Ordained By: | Guido Luigi Bentivoglio |
Consecration: | 27 May 1979 |
Consecrated By: | Pope John Paul II, Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, and Eduardo MartÃnez Somalo |
Birth Date: | 3 September 1933 |
Birth Place: | Zafferana Etnea, Catania, Italy |
Nationality: | Italian |
Motto: | Super Omnia Charitas |
Alfio Rapisarda | |
Dipstyle: |
Alfio Rapisarda (born 3 September 1933) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1962 to 2008, with the title of apostolic nuncio from 1979.
Alfio Rapisarda was born on 3 September 1933 in Zafferana Etnea, Province of Catania, Italy. He was ordained a priest on 14 July 1957. He earned a doctorate in canon law.
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1962. He completed the course of studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1960.[1] His early assignments included stints in Honduras, Brazil, France, Yugoslavia, and Lebanon.
On 22 April 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Archbishop of Cannae and Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia and consecrated him a bishop on 27 May.[2]
On 29 January 1985, John Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Apostolic Nuncio to Brazil on 2 June 1992, and Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal on 12 October 2002.[3] In 2004 Portugal and the Holy See signed a new concordat, replacing an outdated one from 1940.[4]
Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation on 8 November 2008.[5]