List of ambassadors of Australia to the Holy See

Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See
Incumbent Chiara Porro since 27 August 2020 (2020-08-27)
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Style	Her Excellency
Reports to	Minister for Foreign Affairs
Residence	Vatican City
Nominator	Prime Minister of Australia
Appointer	Governor General of Australia
Inaugural holder	Lloyd Thomson
Formation	1973

The Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Holy See. The first nominee for this position was Dudley McCarthy, appointed in 1973, ^{[1] [2]} who was also the ambassador to Spain, but the Vatican refused to accept the nomination on the grounds that McCarthy had been divorced. ^[3] The appointment was subsequently attached to the office of the Ambassador to the Netherlands, Denmark, Turkey, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and Switzerland. In 2008 Tim Fischer was appointed as the first permanent resident ambassador to the Holy See. ^[1] In 1986, Sir Peter Lawler had been appointed resident ambassador for four months prior to Pope John Paul II's visit to Australia. ^[4]

Chiara Porro was appointed ambassador in August 2020.

List of heads of mission

Ordinal	Officeholder	Title	Residency	Term start date	Term end date	Time in office	Notes
1	Lloyd Thomson LVO	Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See	The Hague, Netherlands	1973 (1973)	1974 (1974)	0–1 years	[5]
2	John McMillan		Turkey	1974 (1974)	1978 (1978)	3–4 years	[6]
(n/a)	John Mitchell Kirtley	Chargé d'affaires		1978 (1978)	1979 (1979)	0–1 years
3	Brian Clarence Hill	Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See	The Hague, Netherlands	1979 (1979)	1980 (1980)	0–1 years
(1)	Lloyd Thomson			1980 (1980)	1983 (1983)	2–3 years	[7]
4	Sir Peter Lawler OBE		Dublin, Ireland [note a]	1983 (1983)	1986 (1986)	2–3 years	[4]
(n/a)	Christopher Stephen Knott	Chargé d'affaires		1986 (1986)	1987 (1987)	0–1 years
5	Frank Milne	Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See		1987 (1987)	1988 (1988)	0–1 years	[8]
6	Brian Burke AO [note b]		Dublin, Ireland	5 June 1988 (1988-06-05)	31 July 1991 (1991-07-31)	3 years, 56 days	[9]
7	Terence McCarthy			1991 (1991)	1993 (1993)	1–2 years	[10]
8	Michael Tate		The Hague, Netherlands	1993 (1993)	1996 (1996)	2–3 years
9	Edward Stevens		Dublin, Ireland	1996 (1996)	1998 (1998)	1–2 years	[11]
10	Bob Halverson OBE			1998 (1998)	2003 (2003)	4–5 years
11	John Herron			2003 (2003)	2006 (2006)	2–3 years
12	Anne Plunkett			2006 (2006)	2008 (2008)	1–2 years
13	Tim Fischer AC		Vatican City	2008 (2008)	2012 (2012)	3–4 years	[1]
14	John McCarthy QC			August 2012 (2012-08)	29 January 2016 (2016-01-29)	3 years, 5 months	[1] [12]
15	Melissa Hitchman			2016 (2016)	2020 (2020)	3–4 years	[13] [14]
16	Chiara Porro			27 August 2020 (2020-08-27)	incumbent	3 years, 146 days	[15] [16] [17]

Notes

^[note a] : Lawler was resident ambassador in the Vatican City for four months prior to Pope John Paul II's visit to Australia.

^[note b] : In April 1991 it was announced that Burke had resigned from his post with effect from July 1991 in order to face a royal commission ^{[18] [19]} and was eventually jailed. Burke was asked to hand back his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia.

References

1. Maiden, Samantha (22 July 2008). "Kevin Rudd parts the Holy See with Tim Fischer". The Australian . Retrieved 10 March 2011.
2. CA 8039: Australian Embassy to the Holy See, Italy [Rome], National Archives of Australia, retrieved 11 January 2016
3. "Proposed envoy not accepted". The Canberra Times . 15 May 1973. p. 7. Retrieved 2 September 2019– via National Library of Australia.
4. Oakes, Laurie (21 July 2008). "Rudd overcome with generous spirit". Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
5. "Envoy to Holy See appointed". The Sydney Morning Herald . 5 July 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
6. Overington, Caroline (22 July 2008). "Politics of the pulpit". The Australian . Retrieved 10 March 2011.
7. Address of John Paul II to Lloyd Thomson, Ambassador of Australia accredited to the Holy See
8. Address of the Holy Father John Paul II to H.E. Mr Francis Sommerville Milne, Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See
9. Ramsey, Alan (20 July 2005). "A role in the fall of a Labor mate conveniently omitted from the eulogies". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 10 March 2011.
10. Address of His Holiness John Paul II to H.E. Mr Terence Barry McCarthy, the new Ambassador of Australia to the Holy See
11. Downer, Alexander (29 August 1998). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador To Ireland" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
12. Wallace, Rick (18 January 2016). "DFAT scrambles to bring home Holy See diplomat". The Australian. News Corp Australia.
13. Bishop, Julie (5 May 2016). "Ambassador to the Holy See" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016.
14. McCowen, Sharyn (10 May 2016). "Career diplomat to succeed John McCarthy as Australian ambassador to Holy See". The Catholic Weekly. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016.
15. Payne, Marise (4 September 2020). "Ambassador to Holy See". Minister for Foreign Affairs (Press release). Australian Government . Retrieved 7 March 2021.
16. Bowling, Mark (28 August 2020). "Meet the new Australian ambassador to the Holy See, Chiara Porro". The Catholic Leader.
17. "New Australian Ambassador to the Holy See appointed". Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
18. Evans, Gareth (12 April 1991). "Ambassador Burke" (Press release). Australian Government.
19. Evans, Gareth (29 April 1991). "Mr Brian Burke" (Press release). Australian Government.