Pintér succeeds Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, who returned to Rome in March after suffering a stroke last October.

The Apostolic Nuncio is the Pope's chief diplomatic representative - the equivalent of an ambassador.

Archbishop Pintér

Archbishop Pintér is currently the Apostolic Nuncio to Honduras.

He was born in Hungary in 1964 and ordained a Catholic priest in June 1988.

He has a doctorates in Theology and Canon Law and speaks Hungarian, Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, and Haitian Creole.

Since entering the diplomatic service at the Holy See in 1996, Pintér has served in Haiti, Bolivia, Sweden, France, the Philippines, Austria and Belarus.

He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Honduras in November 2019. In that role he coincidentally replaced Rugambwa who had just been appointed to his Aotearoa New Zealand post.

Welcome mat out

Archbishop of Wellington Paul Martin SM, the General Secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, is delighted to welcome Pintér.

"We are pleased to have a Nuncio of such experience and we look forward to working with him for the good of the Church in our country and the Pacific, and as the connection with the Holy Father" he says.

"We look forward to welcoming him when he arrives."

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference

He issued a stark warning at the end of Bishop Cleophas Oseso Tuka's Consecration Mass.

Unless the Sudan war is halted in time, the violence and horror scenes will "spill over" to neighbouring countries, he said.

"It will spill over into South Sudan; that means we will have it at the borders of Kenya and Uganda."

At least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 injured since the war erupted on April 15.

Many more are thought to have died because critical services have been disrupted.

Van Megen acknowledged the international community's efforts to end the violence. Politicians from the warring factions are to blame, he indicated.

These factions are the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on one side and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the other. The RSF is the paramilitary force under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,

"The International Community is working very hard to get things back into place and up to now it hasn't really worked ... the two parties involved are not really ready to listen to each other," van Megan said.

"That war in Khartoum is happening because two political leaders cannot agree with one another and the whole population has to suffer because of it.

"Politics is a question of give and take. You negotiate, you sit around the table, but if you go into your own bastions and start to throw stones at each other, sooner or later you will hit somebody on the head and then it doesn't work anymore."

He also said Kenyans should see Sudan's violence as a warning.

Kenyans are experiencing rising political tensions and "a lot of accusations," counter-accusations and "suspicion," he said.

He urged Kenyan politicians "to sit around the table and come up with solutions for the good of the country, for every Kenyan from whatever tribe or language he might speak."

Kenyan Bishops

The Kenya Catholic Bishops Conference is also concerned and are expressing their solidarity with God's people in Sudan.

"Many people are walking down from north to south to seek foreign refuge, including our Religious men and women.

"We want to remember them at this particular moment as we send our greetings of condolences and pray with them," they said. Church leaders in Kenya are praying for peace to return to Sudan.

Sudan's rival factions arrived in Saudi Arabia on May 6 for direct talks.

"Sudanese are pinning their hopes on talks in Saudi Arabia between envoys of warring factions to end bloodshed that has killed hundreds and triggered a mass exodus," Reuters reported.

The US and Saudi governments have managed to bring both sides together.

"We ...urge both parties to take into consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," they said.

Source

• Apostolic Nuncio

At their November meeting the bishops re-emphasised the need for two bishops to the Pope's diplomatic representative to New Zealand, His Excellency, Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa (pictured).

New Zealand bishops are appointed through the Dicastery for Evangelisation headed by Cardinal Luis Tagle.

Rugambwa is the intermediary in New Zealand who recommends suitable and worthy candidates to Tagle.

Once a suitable and worthy candidate is found, Tagle recommends his name to Pope Francis to make the appointment.

Rugambwa, who has recently returned to New Zealand from Rome, was a distinguished guest at the opening session of the bishops' November meeting. He shared the Pope's greetings and blessings with them and the people under their pastoral care.

They in turn, spoke plainly of their concern about the bishopless state of both the Palmerston North and Hamilton dioceses.

After the unscheduled resignation of Charles Drennan, the Palmerston North diocese has been without a bishop for more than three years.

The Hamilton diocese has been without a bishop for nearly a year. On December 17, 2021 then Hamilton bishop, Steve Lowe, was appointed Bishop of Auckland.

At his installation as Bishop of Auckland in March, Lowe thanked Rugambwa for his presence.

"Can I please ask you to work hard to find a great bishop for Hamilton? I think Palmerston North and Christchurch are looking for one too," he remarked to laughter in the congregation.

In the meantime, Auxilary Bishop Michael Gielen was translated from Auckland and installed as bishop of Christchurch.

In early November, Lowe, Secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, commented that it takes a long time to appoint a bishop.

Lowe was responding to a piece in the international publication The Pillar, where Luke Coppen suggested the Vatican has forgotten about New Zealand's need to find two bishops.

Pointing the finger for the delay at Rugambwa, Coppen suggested Rugambwa might have a different model of Church than is commonly accepted in New Zealand.

Sources

• Supplied
• CathNews
• CathNews

It is three years since Charles Drennan resigned as Bishop of Palmerston North.

Coppen points out it appointing bishops in New Zealand has not previously been too much of a problem.

He reports that outside observers of the Palmerston North diocese say the local Church has fared surprisingly well without a bishop for the past three years. But there are certain decisions that must wait until the arrival of a new bishop.

Speaking with local clergy, one mentioned to The Pillar he could name five good candidates for the vacant dioceses.

"The problem is not the availability of candidates, but rather the criteria by which they are chosen."

He told Coppen the way bishops are chosen is "outmoded."

He said he had been asked to fill in forms about potential bishops that asked questions such as whether there was any reason in the candidate's family that would cause scandal to the Church.

How do we measure scandal these days; life and family life is complex today? he asked.

"We're looking for these men who are pluperfect," he said.

"The model still looks for men who are able to be subservient and at the same time almost be careerists. And so it becomes a sort of oxymoron that you're looking for," proffered another priest.

He told Coppen that he thought the group that probably suffers most from the Vatican's inactivity is the diocesan team.

"They sort of work for the bishop."

"They're his people who do his bidding. And I would say of everybody, they're a little bit lost."

Looking for a reason for the delay Coppen says the Dicastery for Evangelisation that controls the process of appointing bishops in New Zealand is considered to be adequately staffed and is 'fairly efficient.'

Noting that the Dicastery needs to cooperate with the powerful Secretariat of State, Coppen asks whether this interaction is slowing down the process, however, concluded there is no evidence to suggest this is the case.

Since 2019, the Tanzanian Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa has served as apostolic nuncio to New Zealand.

He is also the nuncio for a dizzying array of other territories, including Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.

One of the priests interviewed by Coppen suggested that the problem seems to be the relationship between the New Zealand bishops and Apostolic Nuncio.

He opined they have different "visions of Church".

At his installation as Bishop of Auckland in March, Bishop Lowe, the former Bishop of Hamilton, thanked Archbishop Rugambwa for his presence.

"Can I please ask you to work hard to find a great bishop for Hamilton? I think Palmerston North and Christchurch are looking for one too," he remarked to laughter in the congregation.

Coppen says there was nothing in the light-hearted comment to suggest there was a gulf between the nuncio and the bishops. But it did imply that the lack of new bishops is weighing on Church leaders' minds.

Archbishop Rugambwa has not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Source

• The Pillar

Archbishop Rugambwa was born in Bukoba, Tanzania in 1957, ordained a priest in 1986 and Archbishop in 2010.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1991 and has served in Nunciatures in Panama, Republic of Congo, Pakistan, New Zealand, Indonesia, Angola and Honduras.

For a period of time, he was also Under Secretary of the Holy See's Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

Archbishop Rugambwa has diplomatic experience in Panama, The Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Indonesia and he previously served as secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio in Wellington, New Zealand.

Archbishop Rugambwa has a degree in Canon Law.

He replaces the previous nuncio Archbishop Martin Krebs who last year was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Uruguay.

President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Bishop Patrick Dunn said of the announcement, "we're delighted with the appointment of Archbishop Rugambwa and warmly welcome him back to our shores in his new role.

"Our prayers are with him as he prepares for his move and we look forward to working with him in the years ahead."

Source
Supplied. Amanda Gregan New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference.
Ko te Huinga Pihopa o te Hahi Katorika o Aotearoa

Image: Daily News

The unidentified nun, who is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, laid a complaint with the police at the end of June of being raped in May 2014.

She says Bishop Franco Mulakkal also sexually abused her many times over the following two years.

The nun alleges that the bishop harassed her when she resisted sexual abuse. She and her family claim that Church authorities have ignored their complaints.

Mulakkal claims the nun's accusation arose only after Church authorities began disciplinary action following allegations that she was having sexual relations with her cousin's husband.

The Police team probing the alleged rape says it will take action in the case "after they are fully convinced."

Meanwhile, although Catholic and other leaders have urged that Mulakkal be removed from his position, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and the Apostolic Nuncio are watching the situation.

"At present, the Vatican is not planning any action against the bishop. Normally, the Vatican does not interfere with the law and order of a foreign country," a priest from Punjab says.

"We have received information that the Vatican Nuncio has already informed the Vatican about the issue. The Vatican is also watching whether the state or central government in India has taken any action against the bishop."

A group of nuns, priests and lay people has also written to the Vatican about the nun's allegations, urging it to provide justice to the women.

The group sent a copy of the letter to Vatican Nuncio Giambattista Diquattro and to Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI) president Cardinal Oswald Graciou.

It asked Diquattro to "advise Pope Francis to relieve the bishop concerned of his pastoral responsibilities so that the Church is seen to actually practise the zero tolerance it professes to observe in abuse cases."

The groups says allowing Mulakkal to continue in his position as bishop of Jalandhar "will erode the faith of the people in the credibility of the Church to implement its policy of zero tolerance and act justly in abuse matters."

Source

• CruxNow
• Times of India
• News18
• Image: Catholic News Agency

In 1988 White was appointed to New Zealand, with responsibility for the vast Oceania territory, involving practically all the island states of the Pacific Ocean.

He continued this work until 1996 and was succeeded on his retirement by Archbishop Patrick Coveney Read more

However if relocation proves necessary it will not be the first time that i-Kiribati have found themselves, en-mass, in a ‘strange' land.

The recently appointed Apostolic delegate to the Solomon Islands, Archbishop Mathew Kurian Vayalunkal received at a true i-Kiribati welcome when he visited the parish of St. Eusebius, Noro.

In Caanan he was honoured with floral wreaths, speeches, dances and gifts at the ‘Maneaba' (meeting house).

The people have been resettled by the British from the then Gilbert islands several decades ago.

In 1930s, because of over crowding 700 i-Kiribati moved to three atolls in the uninhabited Phoenix-islands group in the extreme south of Kiribati.

But in the early 1950s, after repeated droughts and associated water shortages, the British authorities made the decision to re-relocate the settlers.

Solomon Islands was chosen on the basis that it was more sparsely populated than Kiribati.

The first wave of i-Kiribati arrived in the Western Province in 1953. They were assigned land to the west of Gizo town on Gizo Island.

Today pockets, or sub-communities, of i-Kiribati are found scattered across the Western Province, especially in Gizo Island, Waghena Island, and in the villages of Canaan, Rawaki on Kohingo Island, and Baeroko to the north of Noro.

Vayalunkal presented his credentials to the Governor General of Solomon Islands, Frank Kabui, on Thursday Feb 9th.

Pope Francis named Vayalunkal as the Apostolic Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in September 2016

The 49-year-old has been in the Vatican diplomatic service since 1998. He served in Guinea Conakry, Korea, Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Hungary and in Egypt.

In 2010, after the earthquake in Haiti, he was sent there for few months to assist the humanitarian support of the Holy See.

Source

• kottayamad.org
• theislandsun.com
• methodist.org.uk
• Image: theislandsun.com

Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel, will most certainly become an important text to understand Catholic social ethics, mission, ecclesiology, and what it means to be a disciple in the world today.

The text addresses a number of important themes including the importance of preaching, the danger of pride and despair within the church, economic inequality, the idolatry of free market capitalism and structural sin, the call of all the church to proclaim the Gospel with joy, and the pneumatological dimensions of evangelisation.

Most of all, perhaps, Pope Francis calls our attention to the demands of people who are poor and marginalised as a fundamental component of evangelisation.

Strongly echoing themes from Pope Paul VI, liberation theology, and his own deeply pastoral style, Francis offers a helpful corrective to certain interpretations of the "new evangelisation" that were common over the past decade. Continue reading.

Kevin Glauber Ahern, PhD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. He served as the President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana) and is Vice-President of the ICMICA-Pax Romana.

Source: Daily Theology

Image: Author's own

Source

• Vatican Information Service

Krebs was born in Essen, Germany, in 1956. He was ordained priest in 1983 and Bishop in 2008. He joined the Vatican's diplomatic corps in 1991. He has been described as "possessed of what's been called a 'precise serenity.'" As well as his mother tongue he speaks five languages, English, Spanish, French, Italian and Czech.

He represented the Holy See at its diplomatic missions in Burundi, Japan, Austria, the Czech Republic, and to the European Community. In 2006 he was appointed to Washington as Archbishop Pietro Sambi's #2.

Krebs' most recent appointment was as apostolic nuncio to Guinea and Mali.

He replaces Archbishop Charles Balvo who has been appointed apostolic nuncio to Kenya.

Read more

Pope Benedict XVI had named Banach, a Vatican diplomat, to be an apostolic nuncio, which carries with it the title of archbishop, in February.

He was born the son of Wallace and Jane Banach. He grew up in Auburn and attended Pakachoag Elementary School and Auburn High School.

He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the College of the Holy Cross, then studied for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome.
He was ordained a priest by Bishop Harrington in St. Paul Cathedral. He served as associate pastor at St. Anne's Parish in Shrewsbury before beginning studies in Rome in 1992 at the Gregorian University and earning a doctorate in Canon Law in 1994.

Banach then joined the Vatican Diplomatic Service. He was named a monsignor on Jan 11, 1996 by Pope John Paul II. He served in Bolivia and Nigeria and, as desk officer for Central Europe for the Vatican Secretary of State, worked in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

He was serving as the Holy See's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (ONUDI), and to the Office of the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• The Catholic Free Press
• Image: Catholic Free Press.com

Archbishop Krebs (56) was born in Essen, Germany. He was ordained priest in 1983, and after obtaining a doctorate in Canon Law entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1991.

Archbishop Krebs has wide experience, working in a number of Apostolic Nunciatures in Burundi, Japan, Austria, the Czech Republic, the European Union and the United States of America.

In September 2008 Monsignor Krebs was appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Guinea and Mali. He was ordained Archbishop in November 2008.

As well as German, Archbishop Krebs speaks English, Italian, French, Spanish and Czech.

Vatican Radio reports Archbishop Krebs was in Guinea in 2009 when, despite church appeal for calm, a demonstration against the military junta ended in a 'bloodbath', the military killing 128.

Speaking with Vatican Radio, Archbishop Krebs said Guinea was a small country and urged the world community not to forget the terrible violence.

The main religion in Mali and Guinea is Islam. Catholics in Guinea number 250,000, representing 3% of the population, while Mali catholics number 200,00, just 1.5% of the population.

Image: Liebfrauen Parish

The Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, Archbishop Charles Balvo, presented Fr Bill Leeming with a Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal at a ceremony at the Marist Centre in Thorndon where Bill lives.

The Pro Eccllesia et Pontifice medal is also know as the "Cross of Honour" and is given for distinguished service to the Church by lay people and clergy.

Archbishop Balvo said that Bill had served four Nuncios and innumerable secretaries during his years at the Nunciature. He thought it was only fitting that some one who had prepared so many applications for Papal Blessings should himself be recognised with an award.

He said that since Bill retired it's been a case of sharing Bill's workload around and following his well practiced and methodical procedures, but he hoped to find a successor soon.

The Nuncio said he enjoyed working with Bill, and that he did a great many things to help the outreach of the Apostolic Delegation in New Zealand, and he did them with love.

Bill began work at the Nunciature in 1994, after a long career in secondary school teaching. He retired earlier this year.

More Photos

Source

• www.smnz.org.nz

Leanza, recently summoned back to the Vatican for 'consultations' resulting from the "Cloyne Report", is at the centre of the fallout between the Catholic Church and the Irish Prime Minister.

Appointed to Dublin in February 2008, Lenza was due to finish is post in Ireland this summer.

Ireland's "The Journal" reports that a spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not confirm when the Holy See had applied for diplomatic credentials, but that the application would be likely to have been in June.

The Apostolic Nunciature of the Czech Republic has been vacant since the end of May, when the incumbent Nuncio was transferred to the nunciature of Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

It had not yet been confirmed when Archbishop Leanza will more to Prague, but it is expected that Leanza will return to Dublin to personally present the Vatican's response to the Cloyne Report.

Sources

• The Journal
• BBC
• The Telegraph
• RTE News Ireland
• Image: NY Daily News