Gabriel Montalvo Higuera

Gabriel Montalvo Higuera ( born January 27, 1930 in Bogotá, Colombia; † August 2, 2006 in Rome, Italy ) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a diplomat of the Holy See.

Life

After studying Catholic theology Gabriel Montalvo Higuera received on 18 January 1953, the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Pope Paul VI. called him on June 14, 1974 Titular Archbishop of Celene and Apostolic Nuncio of Honduras and Nicaragua. He received his episcopal consecration, the Pope personally on June 30th of the same year. On March 18, 1980, Pope John Paul II appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio in Algeria and Tunisia and apostolic envoy to Libya. The Office of the Apostolic Pro- Nuncio to Yugoslavia Montalvo transferred on 12 June 1986. On April 17, 1993, he took over the leadership of the Apostolic Nunciature of Belarus. As the last stop of his diplomatic career in the service of the Holy See led him the appointment of 7 December 1998 in the United States, where he remained until his retirement on 17 December 2005 as Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States in Washington, DC worked.

From 29 April 1993 to December 7, 1998 Montalvo also served as President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

Archbishop Montalvo died on 2 August 2006 in Rome from lung cancer, which he was ill before his retirement.