The training of Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi was held in Italy, where he was born in Veneto in 1940, and in New York where he studied theology and was ordained a priest in 1965. Archbishop Tomasi holds a Master’s Degree in social sciences and a PhD in Sociology at Fordham University in New York. In this regard, he was assistant professor of sociology at the City University of New York (Richmond College, City College) and at the New School of Social Research (1970-1974). As the founding director of New York’s Center for Migration Studies, Inc., he founded and edited the quarterly magazine “International Migration Review”.
Archbishop Tomasi performed pastoral work in the New York area and was Provincial Superior of his religious congregation, i Missionari di San Carlo – Scalabriniani. He also published books and articles related mostly to migration issues.

From 1983 to 1987, he served as the Director of the Pastoral Care of Immigrants & Refugees (PCMR) of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference (NCCB / USCC).
From the end of 1989 to his appointment to Archbishop and Apostolic Nuncio on June 27, 1996, Tomasi served as secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, a Department of the Roman Curia.
From 1996 to 2003, Archbishop Tomasi served as Apostolic Nuncio in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti and as an observer at the African Union, in the past Organization of African Unity (OUA), based in Addis Ababa. During his mandate, among the various initiatives undertaken, he began the Catholic University of Ethiopia.
In September 2003, Archbishop Tomasi began serving as the Permanent Observer of the Holy See at United Nations Specialized Organizations, Geneva and the World Trade Organization, a responsibility he has maintained since the beginning of 2016.
The Cambridge University Press is publishing the selection of Archbishop Tomasi’s interventions.

He is currently a member of the new ministry of the Holy See, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.