Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
FaithNews

Pope names Venezuelan prelate to top position in Secretariat of State

Catholic News ServiceAugust 15, 2018
(iStock) 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has named a Venezuelan veteran of the Vatican diplomatic corps to be the third-ranking official in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, current nuncio to Mozambique, will take up his new position as "substitute secretary for general affairs" Oct. 15, the Vatican announced Aug. 15. The position is similar to a president's chief of staff, placing him in charge of the Vatican's day-to-day operations.

Archbishop Pena, 58, succeeds Italian Cardinal Giovanni Becciu, the new prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.

RELATED STORIES

Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1985. After earning a degree in canon law, he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps in 1993, serving at Vatican missions in Kenya, Yugoslavia, at the United Nations in Geneva, in South Africa, Honduras and Mexico.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI named him an archbishop in 2011 and sent him to Pakistan as apostolic nuncio there. Pope Francis named him nuncio to Mozambique in 2015.

According to the Vatican, he speaks Spanish, Italian, English, French, Portuguese and Serbo-Croatian.

Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

Most popular

1
Cardinal Pierre warns against U.S. church not working with the universal church
Justin McLellan – Catholic News Service
2
Interview: Big changes are coming for the Gregorian—Rome’s oldest and largest pontifical university
Gerard O’Connell
3
What happens when a diocese takes a synodal approach to parish restructuring?
Kerry Weber
4
Cardinal Dolan: In the Holy Land, I saw broken hearts—and dreams for a better future
Timothy Michael Dolan
5
Pope Francis tells nuns and monks: ‘Nostalgia’ will not save your monasteries from closing
Justin McLellan – Catholic News Service

Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more.

Coordinator of Faith & Community Life
Jobs
Community at the Crossing
Volunteer / Vocation
Benedictine Spiritual Direction Training & Certification Program
Retreats, Spiritual Resources
Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford
Retreat Houses, Retreats
Director of Faith Formation and Family Ministry – A Uniquely Complete Opportunity
Jobs
See all Classifieds

The latest from america

‘Death of a Salesman’ turns 75. And we’re still haunted by Willy Loman.
Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” which turns 75 this year, was a huge hit by any commercial or critical standard. In 1949, it pulled off an unprecedented trifecta, winning the New York Drama Circle Critics’ Award, the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. So attention must be paid!
James T. KeaneApril 23, 2024
How the pontifical university founded by St. Ignatius is changing to meet the needs of modern students
In Part II of his exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell, the rector of the soon-to-be integrated Gregorian University describes his mission to educate seminarians who are ‘open to growth.’
Gerard O’ConnellApril 23, 2024
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, center, holds his crozier during Mass at the Our Lady of Peace chapel in the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center on April 13, 2024. (OSV News photo/Sinan Abu Mayzer, Reuters)
Cardinal Dolan: In the Holy Land, I saw broken hearts—and dreams for a better future
My recent visit to the Holy Land revealed fear and depression but also the grit and resilience of a people to whom the prophets preached and for whom Jesus wept.
Timothy Michael DolanApril 23, 2024
Interview: Big changes are coming for the Gregorian—Rome’s oldest and largest pontifical university
The Gregorian’s American-born rector, Mark Lewis, S.J., describes how three Jesuit academic institutes in Rome will be integrated to better serve a changing church.
Gerard O’ConnellApril 22, 2024