Pope names Filipino Archbishop Bernardito Auza nuncio to EU

He was then sent to Rome to study canon law. He joined the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1990. He worked in the nunciatures of Madagascar, Bulgaria, and Albania, then in the Section for Relations with States in Rome. Then, he served at the permanent mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York.

In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, elevating him to the dignity of archbishop at the same time. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him as permanent observer to the United Nations headquarters in New York and to the Organization of American States. In 2019, the Argentinian pope appointed him as apostolic nuncio to Spain and Andorra.

Archbishop Auza has taken over the post left vacant by the previous nuncio, Irish Archbishop Noel Treanor, who died of a heart attack in Brussels on August 11, 2024. His predecessor, Archbishop Aldo Giordano, also died in office in 2021 from complications of COVID-19.

Since the creation of the post of nuncio to the European Community in 1983, eight nuncios have succeeded one another, all of European origin (four Italians, two Frenchmen, one Spaniard, and one Irishman). Archbishop Auza thus becomes the first non-European apostolic nuncio to occupy the nunciature to the European authorities in Brussels.