Pope Francis appoints Filipino priest as envoy to Rwanda

Pope Francis waves from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square, during the weekly Angelus prayer followed by the recitation of the Regina Coeli on May 16, 2021 in The Vatican. (AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — Pope Francis has named a Filipino priest as an apostolic nuncio to Rwanda, a landlocked country in east Africa, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

 The CBCP said the appointment of Monsignor Arnaldo Catalan as an apostolic nuncio was made public by the Holy See Press Office on Monday. 

An apostolic nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomat who serves as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See — the government of the Catholic Church — to a state or international organization. 

“In appointing Catalan as a Vatican envoy, the pope also elevated him to the titular See of Apollonia, with the dignity of Archbishop,” the CBCP said in a report on Monday.

Catalan replaced Poland’s Archbishop Andrzej Józwowicz who was transferred to Iran in June 2021, the CBCP added.

 Before his current post, Catalan served as the chargé d’affaires — or a diplomatic official who assumes a post of an ambassador — of the Apostolic Nunciature in China since 2019.

The 55-year-old priest also joined the Holy See Diplomatic Service in July 2001, serving in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Zambia, Kuwait, Mexico, Honduras, Turkey, India, Argentina, Canada, and the Philippines.

 Catalan, who is also a priest of the Archdiocese of Manila, was ordained to priesthood in March 1994.

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