(Vatican) Pope Francis has appointed Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Vatican diplomat as the new Secretary of State. The decision has been made even if it has not yet officially been announced by the Vatican. Monsignor Parolin, currently Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, will be the successor of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whom Pope Benedict XVI. had appointed to the Secretary of State. At age 58, the diplomat from Veneto will soon belong to the youngest cardinals of the Catholic Church.From 2002 to 2009, Monsignor Parolin was Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the State Secretariat of the Roman Curia. The career development shows that the Vatican diplomat comes from the school of former Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano and is close to him. His name was mentioned immediately after the election of Pope Francis among the possible candidates for the highest office in the Roman Curia behind the Pope.
The press agency of the U.S. Bishops Conference Catholic News Agency (CNA) had already reported in late June that Nuncio Parolin would succeed Cardinal Bertone in office and his appointment was predicted for those days ( see separate report ). It came to naught. For the time being. At the end of July the influential Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan unexpectedly issued a harsh criticism of Pope Francis ( see separate report). The main point of criticism was that he had not yet gotten to the appointment of a new Secretary of State. Cardinal Dolan criticized the new Pope in an abrupt tone a lack of "management" and "leadership". The cardinal said in an interview with the National Catholic Reporter, is expected to have a change at the head of the Secretariat of State more concretely before the summer break. "I expect that after the summer break one or the other signal more in the direction of change in the administration." Shortly after the criticism of Cardinal found a wider audience, then the appointment of the Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela is to be number two in the Vatican, as it had already announced CNA one and a half months ago.
As Under Secretary, Monsignor Parolin was responsible for diplomatic negotiations between Israel and the Holy See, inter alia, by 2009. In 2011 the diplomate seemed to be the fifth proposed replacement for the Archdiocese of Milan, but did not reach the three proposed candidates. Benedict XVI. appointed Archbishop, the then Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola.
He was born on 17 January 1955 in Schiavon, Pietro Parolin was ordained a priest on 26 April 1980 of the Diocese of Vicenza. In 2009 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, and thus in the active service in the Vatican diplomatic corps in this activity. At the same time, Pope Benedict XVI. appointed him Titular Archbishop of Aquipendium. His episcopal consecration was on 12 September 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. The diocese itself was established in 1649 in the Papal States Acquapendente (Lazio) and was thus abolished in 1986 by John Paul II, and was incorporated into the diocese of Viterbo. In 1991, was the first appointment of a titular bishop.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Settimo Cielo
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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