Pope Leo XIV has appointed the Italian archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, 68, a distinguished Holy See diplomat, to be the new apostolic nuncio to the United States, the Vatican announced on March 7.

He succeeds Cardinal Christophe Pierre, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Leo after he had reached “the limits of age,” the Vatican said. The French-born prelate, who turned 80 on Jan. 30, was appointed as nuncio to the United States on April 12, 2016, by Pope Francis, who also made him cardinal at the consistory on Sept. 30, 2023. During his tenure, he played an important role in identifying candidates to be bishops and contributed significantly to the transformation of the leadership of the Catholic Church in the United States, a task he now hands over to his successor.

“It is an excellent appointment,” Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the secretary for relations with states and the international organizations, who has known Archbishop Caccia for many years, told America. He said he comes with “great experience” having served in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and in the Holy See’s diplomatic missions in Tanzania, Lebanon, the Philippines and most recently at the United Nations in New York.

Archbishop Caccia said in a statement, reported by Vatican Media, that he views his new role as “a mission of communion and peace.” Commenting on this remark, Archbishop Gallagher said: “There’s no denying that there is polarization in American society and to an extent also in the Catholic Church in the United States. He is well aware of it from his years in New York, and so is well prepared for his new mission.” Moreover, he said, “Archbishop Caccia has no problem in communication; he speaks English fluently and knows how to interact well with people.”

Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations, is pictured in a 2023 photo addressing the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City. Credit: OSV News photo/Rick Bajornas, courtesy United Nations

His appointment comes at a turbulent time in world affairs, as the United States and Israel wage war against Iran—a conflict now in its eighth day that appears to be expanding, with Israel attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon as well. Archbishop Caccia becomes Pope Leo’s personal envoy to the United States when there is also considerable tension between the Holy See and the Trump administration over the deportation of migrants and the priority given to “the diplomacy based on force” over multilateralism and dialogue. 

Archbishop Caccia was born in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 24, 1958, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milan by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini on June 11, 1983. After serving three years in a parish in Milan, he was sent to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, where Holy See diplomats are trained, and while there obtained a doctorate in sacred theology and a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Following his graduation in 1991, he joined the Holy See’s diplomatic service and was assigned to the apostolic nunciature in Tanzania, where he served for two years before being called back to Rome in 1993 to work in the First Section (for general affairs) of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. On Dec. 17, 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed him assessor for general affairs of the Secretariat of State, a position that is the number two to the chief of staff.

After Caccia had worked in that role for almost seven years, Pope Benedict XVI made him the apostolic nuncio to Lebanon and consecrated him bishop in September 2009. The archbishop took as his motto the words “Credidimus Caritati,” taken from St. John’s First Letter, which means “We have believed in the love God has for us” (4:16).

During his time in Lebanon, he witnessed the 2010 war between Israel and Lebanon, hosted Pope Benedict during his visit to Lebanon in September 2012 and observed the fallout over many years from the civil war in neighbouring Syria, including the influx of refugees to Lebanon.

In September 2017, Pope Francis appointed him as apostolic nuncio to the Philippines; two years later, in November 2019, the Argentine pope reassigned him to be the seventh permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York. The archbishop described his role then as “helping the Holy See assist the United Nations in renewing its commitment to the pillars of its Charter, preventing the scourge of war, defending human dignity and rights, promoting integral development, and fostering respect and implementation of international law and treaties.” 

Now, the first American pope has appointed him as apostolic nuncio to the United States, which has had full diplomatic relations with the Holy See since Jan. 10, 1984. He will serve as the Holy See’s point man in its relations with the U.S. administration and as Pope Leo’s envoy to the Catholic Church in the United States.

Archbishop Caccia said he was “honored and deeply humbled by the decision of the Holy Father” to appoint him as nuncio “to the country and the church” where the pope was born and raised. 

“I receive this mission with both joy and a sense of trepidation,” he said, highlighting that this is a “mission at the service of communion and peace” and that it begins in the year in which the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding.

Archbishop Caccia said he feels “encouraged by the warmth and openness” he has received from the local church, the people and the institutions of the United States, which he has come to know during his more than five years of service at the United Nations in New York.

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.