Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Appointment Alarm

OK, we have an American appointment to chew on this morning. It's not Detroit or DC, but it is the first of anything we've had since June 21.

Benedict XVI has named Fr. Rutilio Del Riego, of the Fraternity of Diocesan Priest-Workers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Riverside, as auxiliary to Bishop Gerry Barnes of San Bernardino. The bishop-elect, who will be 65 in September, was born in Spain, earned an STL from Catholic U, taught Spanish at the Benedictine College at Latrobe, directed vocations for the archdiocese of San Antonio and Hispanic Ministry for the archdiocese of Washington. Quite a pedigree.

In other appointment news, B16 has made his first major move in the Diplomatic Corps, retiring Archbishop Giorgio Zur as nuncio to Austria for reasons of age. But Zur has had his share of debacles of late, which didn't hurt his letter's quick acceptance -- he only turned 75 in February. The Holy See's new man in Vienna is Archbishop Edmond Farhat, the 72 year-old nuncio to Turkey.

As us Statesiders have been aware for some time, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo -- the nuncio to Washington -- turned 75 in January. Given the importance of relations with the US government and the appointments which Massachussetts Avenue advises on, Montalvo's retirement is seen as impending. It seems his appointment slates have been put on hold and are being re-scrutinized before they get greenlighted.

More soon.

-30-

2 Comments:

Blogger Jamie said...

Rocco,

I don't quite follow why you keep calling del Riego the 'bishop-elect'. He's an auxiliary, not a coadjutor, or are you already predicting that he will replace Barnes?

28/7/05 08:32  
Blogger Jamie said...

Ah, my mistake, question withdrawn *duh*

29/7/05 08:19  

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