Oriano Quilici was born on 29 November 1929 in the San Pietro a Vico quarter of Lucca, Italy.
[1] His early postings included Costa Rica, Chile, the Philippines, Yugoslavia, New Zealand and Oceania, and South Korea, as well as a stint in Vienna from 1970 to 1975, where beginning in 1971 he was the Holy See's Permanent Observer to two international bodies: the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
[1] On 15 November 1975, Pope Paul VI appointed him Titular Archbishop of Tabla and Apostolic Pro-nuncio to the Central African Republic and Apostolic Delegate to Chad and the Republic of the Congo.
[1] In the Central African Republic, he diplomatically refused Jean-Bédel Bokassa's request that the pope crown him emperor in December 1977.
[1][6] In Guatemala in 1983, he appealed without success to halt several executions just days before Pope John Paul's arrival there.