The Apostolic Nunciature to Rwanda the

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

to Rwanda. It is located in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

. The current Apostolic Nuncio is Archbishop Arnaldo S. Catalan, who was named to the position by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

on 31 January 2022. The Apostolic Nunciature to the

Republic of Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

is an ecclesiastical office of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, with the rank of an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

. The

nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international or ...

serves both as the ambassador of the Holy See to the

President of Rwanda This article lists the presidents of Rwanda since the creation of the office in 1961 (during the Rwandan Revolution), to the present day. The president of Rwanda is the head of state and head of executive of the Republic of Rwanda. The presid ...

, and as delegate and point-of-contact between the

Catholic hierarchy The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the Church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gif ...

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

and the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

History

After representing its interests through a series of delegations, the Holy See established its Nunciature to Rwanda on 6 June 1964.

Apostolic Nuncios to Rwanda since 1949

* Pietro Sigismondi (16 December 1949 – 27 September 1954) *

Vito Roberti Vito Roberti (12 September 1911 – 31 August 1998) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Caserta from 1965 to 1987. He was given the personal title of archbishop in 1962 and worked from 1962 to 1965 in the diplomatic servi ...

(13 October 1962 – 15 August 1965) * Jean Émile André Marie Maury (11 June 1965 – 1967) *

Amelio Poggi Amelio Poggi (9 October 1914 – 23 December 1974) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, including stints as Apostolic Nuncio in Rwanda, Uganda, and Syria. Biography Amelio Pog ...

(27 May 1967 – 27 November 1969) * William Aquin Carew (27 November 1969 – 10 May 1974) *

Nicola Rotunno Nicola Rotunno (1 December 1928 – 8 February 1999) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, including stints as Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Syria. Biogra ...

(7 January 1975 – 13 April 1978) *

Thomas Anthony White Thomas A. White (12 August 1931 – 7 May 2017) was an archbishop of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, serving in Africa, China, Latin America, and the Pacific region. He once described his career as "gyp ...

(27 May 1978 – 1 March 1983) *

Giovanni Battista Morandini Giovanni Battista Morandini (born 30 June 1937) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1983 and from then until his retirement in 2008 served terms ...

(30 August 1983 – 12 September 1990) *

Giuseppe Bertello Giuseppe Bertello (born 1 October 1942) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2012, who was President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State from Octo ...

(12 January 1991 – March 1995) * Juliusz Janusz (25 March 1995 – 26 September 1998) *

Salvatore Pennacchio Salvatore Pennacchio (born 7 September 1952 in Marano, Italy) is a Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See, currently president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Biography He received his priestly ordination on 18 September ...

(28 November 1998 – 20 September 2003) *

Anselmo Guido Pecorari Anselmo Guido Pecorari (born 19 May 1946) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1980 until he retired in 2021. He became an archbishop in 2003 and held the position of apostolic nunc ...

(29 November 2003 – 17 January 2008) *

Ivo Scapolo Ivo Scapolo (born 24 July 1953) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1984, and has served as nuncio in Bolivia, Rwanda, Chile and Portugal. He has been an archbishop since 20 ...

(17 January 2008 – 15 July 2011) * Luciano Russo (16 February 2012 – 14 June 2016) *

Andrzej Józwowicz Andrzej Józwowicz (born 14 January 1965) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1997 and serves as the Apostolic Nuncio to Iran. An archbishop since 2017, he was Apostolic Nuncio to Rwanda ...

(18 March 2017 – 28 June 2021) * Arnaldo Catalan (31 January 2022 – present)

References

{{Rwanda-stub