Ordination as bishop of Filipino apostolic nuncio to Rwanda set at Manila Cathedral on Feb.11

The Manila Cathedral (NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / INQUIRER file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — Monsignor Arnaldo Catalan, the new apostolic nuncio to Rwanda, will be ordained as an archbishop at the Manila Cathedral next week, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced on Friday. 

 Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will be the principal consecrator at the Manila Cathedral on February 11.

 Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila and Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, will serve as co-consecrators.

 Pope Francis appointed the 55-year old Catalan as the nuncio to the landlocked country in east Africa.

 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 keeping with the practice of nuncios having the rank of archbishop, Msgr. Catalan was also designated with the Titular See of Apollonia,” CBCP News said.

 Catalan also adopted “Iuxta Misericordiam non Deficimus (through mercy, we are not discouraged)” as his episcopal motto.

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