A native of Brooklyn, Balvo grew up in Suffern, New York, where he graduated from Sacred Heart School. He studied at Cathedral College, both in Manhattan and in Queens. He studied for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome, obtained a baccalaureate in sacred theology and a licentiate in biblical theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He then pursued his studies in canon law and obtained his licentiate at the Catholic University of America and doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Balvo has been a member of the Vatican diplomatic corps since 1987. He served in the apostolic nunciatures in Lithuania, Jordan, the Czech Republic and Ghana. He served at Sacred Heart parish, in Newburgh, New York, from 1976 to 1981, and then at St. John the Evangelist, in Mahopac for a year. On April 1, 2005, he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Castello and Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Palau and Vanuatu. He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Edward Egan on June 29, 2005. The Cook Islands were added to his responsibilities on March 25, 2006, and Samoa on April 1, 2006 and Nauru on January 30, 2007. He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya on 17 January 2013, as well as Permanent Observer to United Nations Organizations for the Environment and Human Settlements. After Kenyan Cardinal John Njue denounced US President Barack Obama's call for Kenya to protect LGBT rights, Balvo told an audience of Kenyan Catholics that "The homosexuals should be defended against violation of their dignity and human rights, they are human beings like anyone of us". On December 21, 2013 was appointed the first Apostolic Nuncio to South Sudan as well. Archbishop Balvo, speaking on the crisis in South Sudan said civil society needs to be involved not just in negotiations on the government level but “should be actively involved always.” Speaking to CISA news agency February 17, he said civil society and the Church have already asked the warring factions to lay down their arms and work out their differences, adding that in the end it is the people who are suffering. "In a country that has a lot of resources, it will not be easy to develop them unless there is peace," he said. He said the Church was doing much to help people through promotion of their welfare and would continue to ensure that peace prevails in the nation. "It is very hard to promote and create a society with generations of people that all they have known is violence," he said. On 21 September 2018, Pope Francis named him Apostolic Nuncio to the Czech Republic.
