John Anthony McCarthy KCSG GCPO KC (born 20 October 1947) was Australian Ambassador to the Holy See from 2012 to 2016, following the appointment of Bob Carr as Foreign Minister.^[1][2]

McCarthy was born on 20 October 1947 in Parkes, New South Wales, the son of Anthony and Eileen McCarthy. He grew up in country New South Wales and attended St Bernard's College, Katoomba. In 1965, he moved to Sydney to study at the University of Sydney as a resident of St John's College. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1968 and Bachelor of Laws in 1971. In 1974, he was awarded a post-graduate scholarship to the University of Virginia and graduated Master of Laws in 1975.^[3]

McCarthy was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW in 1972, as a barrister of the Supreme Court in 1976 and appointed Queens Counsel in 1988. McCarthy has appeared in the High Court of Australia, Privy Council, Federal Court of Australia, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australian Industrial Relations Commission, NSW Industrial Relations Commission, Family Court of Australia, NSW Land and Environment Court, Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), District Court (NSW) and Magistrates Court (NSW).

McCarthy has had an ongoing involvement with constitutional, electoral and organisational issues relating to Indigenous Australian associations, educational institutions and sporting organisations.^[4][5][6][7] McCarthy was Senior Counsel for the Dunghutti people in 1996 and participated in the negotiation and settling of the first Deed of Agreement (209 years after the first white settlement) between the Crown in New South Wales and an Indigenous Australian people in respect of native title in Australia. He then appeared as senior counsel in the Dunghutti case in the Federal Court in 1997, in which for the first time on the Australian mainland there was a determination of native title under the Native Title Act 1993.^[8][9]

McCarthy has represented Catholic bishops and Catholic agencies and institutions in many cases. He has also acted as senior counsel for the national president of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia. McCarthy is Senior Counsel for the Church of the Torres Strait, an indigenous church of former Anglicans and for the Anglican Catholic Church of Australia, both of which are seeking full communion with the Catholic Church under the Apostolic (Papal) Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus.^[10]

McCarthy has appeared in cases in the High Court on native title, trade practices and electoral matters. He has also appeared in several cases in relation to the NRMA^[11] and the University Cooperative Bookshop. He was also senior counsel during the revision of their constitutions and rules. Other important cases in which he has appeared include the Maralinga and Voyager compensation cases (1991–95). McCarthy has appeared in ICAC inquiries, a Royal Commission and similar public investigations and inquiries.

McCarthy became senior counsel for the Labor Party in NSW in 1988. He appeared for the ALP in courts of disputed returns, electoral boundary commissions and supreme court proceedings. He also advised the ALP National Secretariat on legal and constitutional issues.

McCarthy married Christine Anne Slattery in the Chapel of St John's College, University of Sydney in 1973, and was married for 50 years until Christine’s death in November 2023.^[21] Christine McCarthy DSS^[22] was an accompished musician, concert pianist, accompanist and composer, the National Convenor of the Society for Eucharistic Adoration, served on the Liturgical Commission for the Archdiocese of Sydney, and wrote and lectured extensively on Catholic themes.^[23] The McCarthys have three daughters and three sons, Theresa, Claire, Anthony, James, Helena and Gerard. Their second daughter, Claire McCarthy is an acclaimed Australian film director.^[24] Their second son, Father James McCarthy, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney; he studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained in 2009.^[25]