DILI, 13 February 2025 (TATOLI) – Vatican’s Appostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, on Thursday, paid a farewell visit to the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmão on the occasion of the end of his tenure.
The farewell meeting marked the end of Sprizzi’s six-year diplomatic mission in Timor-Leste, the second predominantly Catholic country in Asia after the Philippines.
During the meeting, Sprizzi expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the close cooperation he received from the Timorese government authorities.
Sprizzi described his six-year diplomatic mission in the country as an extraordinary mission.
“For me, it’s an extraordinary mission. Timor-Leste is a country of my heart and always in my heart,” Sprizzi described. “In Timor-Leste, I experience God’s love through the friendship and love of the Timorese people.”
During his mission in Timor-Leste, Sprizzi not only built and strengthened relationships with national and religious leaders, as well as government officials, but he also traveled throughout the municipalities, visiting villages, chapels, and rural communities.
Sprizzi made a significant contribution to the country’s development, including the opening of the Holy See Embassy in Dili, the establishment of the Timorese Catholic University (UCT-Portuguese), the Ecclesiastical Court, and, most importantly, the Pope’s historic visit to Timor-Leste.
Ambassador Sprizzi began his diplomatic mission in the country on 18 February 2019.
He had been appointed President of the Labor Office of the Apostolic See and that he would be leaving next month to begin his new job.
TATOLI
