Pope Francis has appointed Filipino Archbishop Bernardito Auza as the new apostolic nuncio to the European Union.
Auza, 65, a native of Talibon town in Bohol, will continue to serve as apostolic nuncio to Spain and Andorra until he assumes his new role in Brussels in the coming weeks.
He succeeds Archbishop Noël Treanor, who died of a heart attack in August 2024 at age 73.
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union welcomed Auza’s appointment, praising his “remarkable legacy of diplomatic engagement and ecclesial service.”
“For decades, he has played a pivotal role within the diplomatic service of the Holy See, demonstrating profound commitment and vision,” Bishop Mariano Crociata, Comece president. “I am confident that our collaboration will be both fruitful and impactful in advancing the common good in the European Union.”
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said March 22 that Auza was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Tagbilaran in June 1985. A year later, he was incarnated to the newly created Diocese of Talibon.
The archbishop earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology in Rome, and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1990.
He served at the Apostolic Nunciatures in Madagascar, Bulgaria, and Albania before serving for a number of years in the Secretariat of State in the Vatican.
In 2006, he was assigned to serve at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N. until then Pope Benedict XVI appointed him apostolic nuncio to Haiti in May 2008, and elevated him to archbishop.
Auza was ordained to the episcopate on July 3, 2008.
He served as nuncio in Haiti until July 2014, when Pope Francis appointed him the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, where he advocated for human rights and peacebuilding.
The archbishop has led the apostolic nunciature in Madrid since January 2020.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis will be discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican said Saturday afternoon, with the Holy Father leaving the facility after spending more than a month there amid a health crisis.
Hospital officials said the pope will continue convalescing at his apartment in Casa Santa Marta for at least two months.
Francis first entered the hospital on Feb. 14. He was treated for several conditions while there including bilateral pneumonia.
Sergio Alfieri, the director of the department of medical and surgical sciences at the hospital, said at a Saturday press conference that Francis would undergo a “protected discharge” and that he will “still have to carry out” treatment “for a long time.”
The pope will continue to receive oxygen during his ongoing convalescence, Alfieri said. ||
