Antonio del Giudice

Antonio del Giudice (16 April 1913 – 20 August 1982) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked for forty years in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, serving twenty years as an apostolic nuncio. His diplomatic career included a series of postings to countries at sensitive points in their political history, including Spain, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Korea, and the Middle East.

Biography Born in Casoria on 16 April 1913 to the town's mayor and pharmacist,

On 18 April 1962 he was appointed Apostolic Delegate in Korea by Pope John XXIII, and on the 29 June he received his episcopal consecration as titular archbishop of Hierapolis of Syria from Cardinal Amleto Giovanni Cicognani.

He attended all three annual sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

On 19 August 1967 he was named Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the Dominican Republic; on 2 December 1970, Nunzio to Venezuela, to Malta on 18 December 1974, where his intervention in local politics resulted in his ouster as persona non grata, and to Iraq and Kuwait on 22 December 1978. In 1989, the government of Iraq decided not to allow non-Islamic religious followers to continue to live in the country, del Guidice succeeded in having the policy reversed.

He died in Baghdad on 20 August 20 1982 at the age of 69. He was buried in the Basilica of San Mauro Abate of Casoria where his funeral monument sits next to that of Maglione.