Catholic World News News Feature

Archbishop Montalvo, former papal nuncio to US, dies at 76 August 03, 2006

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo Higuera, who served as the Vatican's representative in Washington from 1998 to 2005, died in Rome on August 2 after a long illness.

The Colombian-born prelate, who served most of his priestly ministry in the Vatican diplomatic corps, retired in December 2005 from his last post, as apostolic nuncio in the US. He had previously been nuncio to Nicaragua, Honduras, Alergia, Tunisia, Libya, Yugoslavia, and Belarus. He was also the former president of the Pontifical Ecclesial Academy, the training ground for Vatican diplomacy.

Archbishop Montalvo was replaced in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, another veteran Vatican diplomat.