Filipino new papal envoy to Rwanda

Archbishop-elect Catalan. Photo: UCAN/Archdiocese of Manila

Manila (UCAN): Pope Francis appointed Arnaldo Catalan, a 55-year-old Filipino priest from the Archdiocese of Manila, as the papal nuncio to Rwanda, in Africa. The Vatican and the archdiocese announced the appointment on January 31, through the Manila Cathedral press office.

The pope also elevated him to archbishop and he was ordained on February 11 at Manila Cathedral by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, with José Cardinal Advincula, archbishop of Manila and Archbishop Charles Brown, the apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, as co-consecrators. Pope Francis has assigned him the titular see of Apollonia in Albania. 

The new archbishop was chargé d’affaires at the Holy See’s diplomatic mission in China.

Archbishop Catalan has been in the Holy See’s diplomatic service for the past 20 years, holding posts in various apostolic nunciatures around the world, including Zambia, India, Kuwait, Turkey, Argentina and Canada. 

In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him chargé d’affaires in China.

His appointment makes him the fifth Filipino nuncio presently serving the Holy See and the first from the Archdiocese of Manila.

Cardinal Advincula, welcomed the appointment of another Filipino as an ambassador.

“I thank the Holy Father for this gift and honour and consider the appointment of Archbishop […] Catalan as historic, with him being the first priest from the Archdiocese of Manila to become a nuncio,” Cardinal Advincula said in a statement on January 31.

“I also greet the new archbishop in the name of the clergy, religious men and women, and the laity of the archdiocese and assure him of their support and prayers as he takes on this new mission,” the cardinal said.

Archbishop Catalan succeeds Archbishop Andrzej Józwowicz, who was transferred from Rwanda to Iran in June 2021.