Alberto Giovannetti (1913 – 1989) was an Italian priest of the Catholic Church who worked in the Roman Curia and served as the first Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations from 1964 to 1973.
Writing in the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in 1963,[3] he said that "the enormous dimensions and monstrous cruelty [the Jews suffered] were apparent in their full sinister light only after the war.
[5] Early in 1964, when the government of China said that the peace strategy of Pope Paul and his two predecessors was nothing more than "chloroforming the world", Giovannetti chose to accept that assessment as a compliment, writing in L'Osservatore Romano: "It is with surprise that we see the Chinese Communists affirm the existence of a perfect identity of intent and action in the last three Popes in the field of the fundamental problem of peace.
"[6] The Vatican state department notified U.N. Secretary General U Thant that Giovannetti would be its first Permanent Observer at the United Nations on 21 March 1964.
[9] His duties extended to U.N. agencies as well, in this era before the Holy See had an observer in Geneva with that responsibility; he led a delegation to a United Nations Trade Conference there in April 1964.