By CBCP News
December 14, 2020
Manila, Philippines
The new Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines has presented his letter of credence to the government on Monday in line with diplomatic requirements.
Archbishop Charles John Brown, 61, submitted his credentials to President Rodrigo Duterte during a virtual ceremony in Malacañang.
A papal nuncio is a permanent diplomatic representative to the Pope, who is head of state of the Holy See.
The archbishop will also play a key role in the search for new Filipino bishops.
The country currently has six vacant ecclesiastical territories including the Archdiocese of Manila, which was formerly served by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples.
Brown, who arrived in the country on Nov. 29, replaced Archbishop Gabriele Caccia who now heads the Vatican’s Permanent Observer Mission in the United Nations in New York.
The Vatican envoy joined the Holy See diplomatic service in 2011, after serving the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1994.
His first assignment was in Ireland, where he served for six years.
Before coming to Manila, Brown served in Albania from 2017 to October 2020.
Pope Francis appointed Brown as his new envoy to Asias’s most predominantly Christian nation on Sept. 28.
In many Catholic countries like the Philippines, the Pope’s representative is also the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.
