Giorgio Lingua

Who is Giorgio Lingua?

Giorgio Lingua is the current Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq and Jordan since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 4 September 2010.

He was born in Fossano, in the province of Cuneo, Italy in 1960. He was ordained on 10 November 1984, he graduated with a doctorate in canon law. He was called to enter the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 July 1992. He worked in the papal representations in Côte d'Ivoire and the United States of America, and in the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State as well as in the Apostolic Nunciature in Italy and in Serbia. He was working as a nunciature counsellor at the Nunciature in Serbia prior to his appointment as the Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq and Jordan on 4 September 2010. At the same time he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Tuscania by Pope Benedict. He also knows French, Spanish and English. His archiepiscopal ordination took place on 9 October 2010.

In light of the advance of ISIS and the response of the US military, Vatican Radio asked Archbishop Lingua, about the US airstrikes, “This is something that had to be done, otherwise [the Islamic State] could not be stopped,” the archbishop said.