Pope Francis has appointed a Spanish archbishop who speaks six languages as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.
Madrid-born Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía replaces Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, an Italian who was named by the Holy Father as prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches on 21 November 2022.
A career diplomat, Archbishop Maury Buendía has previously served as Apostolic Nuncio to Romania, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Among the most pressing business he will face as “Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St James” will be to find a successor to Cardinal Vincent Nichols because the Archbishop of Westminster is now aged 77 and two years over the mandatory age of retirement.
The new nuncio must also find a new bishop for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, which is in turmoil following the sudden and premature retirement of Oratorian Bishop Robert Byrne, 66, in December.
The Vatican safeguarding investigation is ongoing in the diocese, which is under the administration of Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool, a Dominican.
Cardinal Nichols, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, welcomed the appointment of the new nuncio.
Cardinal Nichols said: “On behalf of our bishops’ conference, I assure him not only of our warm welcome but also of our full cooperation when he takes up these new responsibilities.”
Archbishop Maury Buendía, 67, was born into an Andalusian family and studied under the Jesuits at Malaga before attending university in Madrid.
He studied philosophy and theology at the Conciliar Seminary of Madrid and was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in June 1980.
He went on to gain a degree in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca in 1985 and then a doctorate in canon law from the Angelicum university in Rome in 1987.
He entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in July 1987, serving in diplomatic missions in several countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco, Egypt, Slovenia and Ireland. He was also a professor at the National Seminary of Nicaragua.
In 2004, he was called to the Section for Relations with States within the Secretariat of State of the Holy See with responsibility for south east Europe.
Four years later, in 2008, he was appointed titular Archbishop of Italica and Apostolic Nuncio to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Romania in 2015, and to the Republic of Moldova in January 2016.
Besides Spanish, Archbishop Maury Buendía speaks or has good knowledge of English, Italian, French, Russian and Slovene.
<em>(Photo courtesy of Vatican Media)</em>
