Ambrose Battista De Paoli (August 19, 1934 – October 10, 2007) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See.

Biography

De Paoli was born in Jeannette, Pennsylvania and was ordained a priest on December 18, 1960, for the Archdiocese of Miami, Florida. He earned a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University. To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1964. He entered the diplomatic corps in 1966. On September 23, 1983, Pope John Paul II named him a titular bishop and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Sri Lanka. He was consecrated a bishop on November 20, 1983, by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli. On February 6, 1988, Pope John Paul appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Southern Africa and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Lesotho. He was then given additional titles as the Delegation to Southern Africa was transformed into country-specific missions, including Apostolic Nuncio to Swaziland on April 17, 1993; Apostolic Delegate to Namibia and to Botswana on March 5, 1994; and Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa on June 25, 1994. On November 11, 1997, he was named nuncio to Japan. On December 18, 2004, he was named nuncio to Australia. He died from complications of leukemia in Miami Beach, Florida, on October 10, 2007.