Lisbon – March 2024. His Majesty’s Hon Consul General of the Kingdom of Tonga to Portugal, Mr Anthony Bailey, paid a courtesy visit on the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Portugal, His Excellency the Most Reverend Archbishop Ivo Scapolo, the Apostolic Nuncio accredited to the Portuguese Republic since August 2019.
The meeting took place at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon and discussions were held as to how to enhance cooperation between the Kingdom of Tonga and the Holy See / Vatican City State who established diplomatic relations on 24 August 1994.
Among the matters highlighted during the meeting were Tonga’s participation in the global World Youth Day which was held in Portugal in August 2023. 104 Tongan nationals travelled the great distance to Lisbon to join the 1.5 million pilgrims in Lisbon for Pope Francis’s historic pastoral visit to Portugal.
In 2016 Pope Francis appointed and elevated the Bishop of Tonga Soane Patita Paini, to the Sacred College of Cardinals – the first ever Tonga to be appointed a cardinal. Their Majesties King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho attended this ceremony and were received in private audience at the Apostolic Palace by the Supreme Pontiff, His Holiness Pope Francis, and by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Tongan Hon Consul General Anthony Bailey has a long association with the Holy See dating back to 1988 and advised numerous bodies aimed at promoting inter-religious relations between the Roman Catholic community and the wider Christian churches and faiths. The Consul General last visited Vatican City in 2023. In 2012 he accompanied His late Majesty King George V Tupou of Tonga on his official visit to the Vatican City.
In 2004 Anthony Bailey was appointed a Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester by decree of Saint Pope John Paul II and in 2009 he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the same order by decree of Pope Benedict XVI. The Consul General has a longstanding interest in the Holy Land and is a Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
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