Monsignor Hilary Franco

Msgr. Hilary Franco was ordained a priest in Rome at the rather young the age of 22. He received a doctorate in Biblical Theology before the age of 24 from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He attended Fordham University in New York, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Sociology. Later, he earned another degree in Canon Law at the Lateran University.

Msgr. Franco served in the Parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Dominic’s in the Bronx, and Assumption Church in Staten Island. From 1962, he was Assistant to Bishop Fulton. J. Sheen at the National Office of the Propagation of the faith in New York. He worked on the preparation of the conciliar documents for the Second Vatican Council and attended as “peritus”.

In 1967, he was called to serve in the Diplomatic Corps of the Vatican at the Apostolic Delegation in Washington D.C. The following year, he was named an official of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See in the Vatican. After two years, he was named Official of the Congregation for the Clergy and was in charge of the English desk for 24 years.

He was named Monsignor in 1971 and Prelate in 1981. He was pastor of St. Augustine’s Parish in Ossining, New York, until 2013.

He served as Judge of the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal and currently serves as adviser at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.

President Luciano Lamonarca met Msgr. Hilary Franco

On November 25, 2015, President Luciano Lamonarca met with Msgr. Hilary Franco, Advisor to the Holy See Mission to the United Nations. We thank Msgr. Franco for accepting to support the vision and initiatives of the Foundation, becoming an Honorary Advocate of the Saint Pio Foundation.