Philippines bishop named Nuncio to Spain

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino archbishop was appointed by Pope Francis last month as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Spain and Andorra, a few days after papal envoy Archbishop Renzo Fratini, 75, retired in July.

“For the fourth time he said, ‘Are you tired of New York?’ I said, ‘Oh whatever, wherever you want,’ so I understood he had something in mind,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza said in a news report as he recalled how the Pope gave him the new assignment on Oct. 1.

Auza will assume his new assignment on Dec. 1.

Before his appointment as Papal Nuncio to Spain and Andorra, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Auza has been serving as the permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, a post he has held since 2014.

Auza said his stint as permanent observer has taught him so many things in life and brought a deeper sense of compassion as he responded to “international questions.”

“For me, these have been years of learning, years of knowing in a deeper way all the big international questions that are being discussed in the (UN),” he said.

Auza, who hails from Talibon, Bohol, was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Tagbilaran in 1985 and was incardinated to then newly formed Diocese of Talibon in 1986.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1990 and was first assigned in Madagascar from 1990 to 1993 and was a member of the permanent mission of the Holy See to the UN before assuming his post in Haiti in 2008.

Auza also served at the secretariat of state in the Vatican after his assignment to the Apostolic Nunciature in Bulgaria and Albania.