The Deacon's Bench
Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, 70, to be the new nuncio to the United States.
In his most recent position, the Italian archbishop had served for two years as secretary general of the commission governing Vatican City. He succeeds the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi in Washington.
Just minutes after his assignment was announced Oct. 19, Archbishop Vigano told Catholic News Service he hoped to get to the United States in time for the U.S. bishops’ general assembly Nov. 14-16.
The archbishop said being nuncio in the United States is an “important, vast and delicate” task; he said he was grateful to Pope Benedict for entrusting him with the mission and he felt called to renew his “trust in the Lord, who asks me to set out again” to a new country.
Being a nuncio, he said, is “a call to know this people, this country and come to love them.”
“For me to take the place of someone who was so loved, so committed, makes it an even greater challenge,” he said.
Archbishop Vigano said he knew a U.S. presidential election is coming up, but before saying anything “I need to hear from the bishops and learn from them. The election is important for the country and for the whole world.”
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