Antoine Camilleri

Antoine Camilleri (20 August 1965) is the current Under-Secretary for Relations with States, effectively, deputy foreign minister of the Holy See since his appointment was announced on 22 February 2013,^[1] six days before Pope Benedict XVI resigned.

Camilleri was born in Sliema, Malta in 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 incardidated into the archdiocese of Malta. He served as vice parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Gzira (1991–92). In 1992 he was sent to read canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University. Having obtained a doctorate, in 1996 he returned to Malta and was appointed Defender of the Bond at the Archdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal (1996–97).^[2]

He was summoned to attend the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and in January 1999 Camilleri joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He served in various Apostolic Nunciatures - Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (1999-2002), Uganda (2002–05) and Cuba (2005–06) - before being assigned to the Secretariat of State in the Vatican.^[3]

On 22 February 2013 he was appointed to replace Ettore Balestrero who was appointed apostolic nuncio to Colombia. Msgr Balestrero had served as Under-Secretary for Relations with States since 2009.

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