After attending law school, he entered the Almo Collegio Capranica and was ordained a priest on 18 September 1993 for the Diocese of Rome by Cardinal Camillo Ruini.

On 17 August 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Undersecretary for Relations with States,[1] replacing Pietro Parolin who was named Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela the same day.

As Undersecretary, Balestrero was the Vatican's representative to Moneyval, the arm of the Council of Europe charged with the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

[2][3][4] On 22 February 2013, in the last week of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, Balestrero was appointed apostolic nuncio to Columbia and Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana.

[10][11][b] On 27 April 2019, after elections and a change of government in the DRC, Pope Francis named Balestrero apostolic nuncio to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.