{"id":21983,"date":"2017-09-13T06:08:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T06:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/for-the-first-time-the-papal-nuncio-to-italy-is-not-italian-99281\/"},"modified":"2017-09-13T06:08:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T06:08:00","slug":"for-the-first-time-the-papal-nuncio-to-italy-is-not-italian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/09\/for-the-first-time-the-papal-nuncio-to-italy-is-not-italian\/","title":{"rendered":"For the first time, the papal nuncio to Italy is not Italian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Rome, Italy, Sep 13, 2017 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- For the first time ever, a non-Italian will serve as apostolic nuncio, or papal ambassador, to Italy. On Sept. 12, Pope Francis appointed Swiss-born diplomat Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig as his new ambassador to Italy.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Tscherrig has served most recently as apostolic nuncio to Argentina. Ironically, he was appointed nuncio there in 2012, replacing Archbishop Adriano Bernardini, who had been appointed nuncio to Italy.<\/p>\n

Four years later, he is called to replace Archbishop Bernardini again.
\n\u00a0
\nArchbishop Tscherrig is a high-profile diplomat. Born in 1947, the first of eight children of a \u201cBergbauern\u201d \u2013 mountain farmer \u2013 family, he was ordained a priest in 1974 and entered the Holy See diplomatic service in 1978.
\n\u00a0
\nHe worked in the Secretariat of State as assistant to Fr. Roberto Tucci, preparing Pope St. John Paul II\u2019s trips outside of Italy.
\n\u00a0
\nHe served in several nunciatures before being appointed a nuncio: in Burundi from 1996 to 2000, in Caribe and Antille from 2000 to 2004, in Korea and Mongolia from 2004 and 2008 and in Scandinavian countries between 2008 and 2012.
\n\u00a0
\nWith his 2012 appointment as nuncio to Argentina, he got to know Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who then served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
\n\u00a0
\nWhile relations have appeared cool between Archbishop Bernardini and Pope Francis, dating to their time in Argentina, Archbishop Tscherrig has long maintained a positive relationship with the Pope.
\n\u00a0
\nThe appointment of a Swiss bishop as Italy\u2019s apostolic nuncio ends the so-called \u201cItalian exception.\u201d Since Italy and Holy See established full diplomatic ties in 1929, nuncios to Italy have always been of Italian nationality. This was an \u201cexception\u201d because the Holy See usually desires that the \u201cPope\u2019s ambassador\u201d be of a nationality different from that of the country he is appointed to, in order to avoid any \u201cnational\u201d influence in diplomatic affairs.
\n\u00a0
\nApostolic nuncios have two main obligations: they maintain diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the nation to which they are appointed, and they represent the concerns of the Holy Father toward the local Church, conveying his intentions, and assisting in the appointment of new bishops.
\n\u00a0
\nThe \u201cItalian exception\u201d worked because the nuncio to Italy has focused mainly on the appointment of bishops, while diplomatic and political issues have been managed on the basis of personal relations between officials of the Italian government and those of the Holy See.
\n\u00a0
\nRecent developments have changed that arrangement. The internationalization of the College of Cardinals, started more than 60 years ago under Pius XII, has become a solid reality \u2013 the Church\u2019s cardinals hail from more than 80 different countries.<\/p>\n

The staff of the Roman Curia \u2013 the offices of the Vatican \u2013 also has developed an international flavor: top posts and clerical jobs in Vatican offices are more frequently entrusted to non-Italian bishops or priests, though the official language is still the Italian.\u00a0 This change has eroded the natural relationships between the Italian government and the Holy See.
\n\u00a0
\nThe appointment of a Swiss nuncio to Italy now ends the most visible \u201cItalian exception\u201d in the Vatican, and nearly ends the custom of reserving certain Vatican roles for Italians.
\n\u00a0
\nIn fact, there is one remaining exception left for the Italians. There is an unwritten rule in Rome that the Holy See\u2019s Secretary of State must be Italian, if the Pope is not Italian.<\/p>\n

Until now, this rule has always been followed, with the only exception of Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot, who kept his post as Secretary of State when St. John Paul II was elected. He died March 9, 1979, a few months after St. John Paul II\u2019s election, and was replaced with Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, a very skilled Italian diplomat.<\/p>\n

Time will tell how long the last remaining \u201cItalian exception\u201d will hold.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy, Sep 13, 2017 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For the first time ever, a non-Italian will serve as apostolic nuncio, or papal ambassador, to Italy. On Sept. 12, Pope Francis appointed Swiss-born diplomat Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig as his n…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nFor the first time, the papal nuncio to Italy is not Italian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Sep 13, 2017 \/ 12:08 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For the first time ever, a non-Italian will serve as apostolic nuncio, or papal ambassador, to Italy. 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