Paolo Romeo

infobox bishopstyles
name=Paolo Romeo
dipstyle=The Most Reverend
offstyle=Your Excellency
relstyle=Monsignor
deathstyle=none |

Paolo Romeo STL JCD (born 20 February 1938 in Acireale) is the current Archbishop of Palermo. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2006.

Romeo was the fifth of nine children. After primary school he entered the seminary and began studying Theology.

His bishop sent him to Rome in 1959 to complete his academic studies and he achieved the licence in theology at the Gregorian University and a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University.

Diplomatic work

Romeo was ordained a priest in 1961. In 1964 he started his studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and on 1 January 1967 he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See, working in the papal representations of: the Philippines, Belgium, Luxembourg, European Union, Venezuela, Rwanda and Burundi.

In 1976 he was recalled to the Vatican Secretariat of State to monitor the life of the Catholic community in the countries of Latin America and activities of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, especially at that time which involved preparation for the 3rd General Conference of that continent which opened on 29 January 1979.

On 17 December 1983 he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Vulturia by Pope John Paul II and that same day was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti. Archbishop Romeo stayed in Haiti until his appointment to serve as Nuncio in Colombia in April 1990. Nine years later he was appointed to serve as Nuncio to Canada.

Archbishop of Palermo

On 17 April 2001 he began his period representing the Holy See in Italy and San Marino. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Romeo to serve as Archbishop of Palermo on 19 December 2006 replacing Salvatore Cardinal De Giorgi who reached the retirement age of 75 in September 2005. He received the pallium in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on 29 June 2007 from Pope Benedict together with other 45 metropolitan archbishop.