Lino Zanini was born in
Riese Pio X, Italy, on 6 May 1909. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Venice on 2 July 1933. He joined the Holy See's diplomatic corps in 1938; his early assignments in the diplomatic service included stints in Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Belgium and Lebanon. On 16 June 1959,
Pope John XXIII named him a
titular archbishop and
Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic. At the very start, to maintain his distance from the government, he scheduled his arrival for the day after the birthday celebrations for Dominican dictator
Rafael Trujillo. The government declared him
persona non grata and he left the country on 21 May 1960. On 4 January 1966,
Pope Paul VI named him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Egypt. On 7 May 1969, Pope Paul appointed him Nuncio to Argentina. He returned to Rome, where on 29 December 1973 he was named a delegate of the
Fabric of Saint Peter. He managed the construction of chapels in the grotto of the Basilica, with elevator access, and the restoration of its facade in the 1980s. From 1986 to 1989 he was president of the Permanent Commission for the Protection of Historical and Artistic Monuments of the Holy See. He died in
Vatican City on 25 October 1997 at the age of 88. ==Notes==