Vatican City – Gabriele Giordano Caccia was appointed today as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America. The decision comes within a diplomatic context of particular importance and bears the clear imprint of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, who has long been bound to the prelate by a relationship of esteem and friendship. Having failed to bring the archbishop back to the Secretariat of State, he did everything in recent months to secure for him a posting of the highest importance, entrusting him with one of the most significant nunciatures in the entire diplomatic network of the Holy See.
In the present context, the decision to send an Italian diplomat to the United States to represent the Pope merits particular attention, both ecclesially and politically. It is, moreover, an appointment that has been received favourably by the American episcopate and was granted the necessary agreement by the United States authorities without difficulty.
Who is Archbishop Caccia?
One element that helps to explain the profile of the new nuncio should not be overlooked: his formation in the milieu of Villa Nazareth, marked by the figure of Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, whose ecclesial and diplomatic approach he clearly reflects. Titular Archbishop of Sepino, the Italian prelate leaves today the office he has held since 2019 as the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York in order to take up one of the most important postings in the whole of pontifical diplomacy. Born in Milan on 24 February 1958, Caccia was ordained a priest on 11 June 1983 by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. His appointment as archbishop dates to 16 July 2009, made by Benedict XVI, who then consecrated him bishop on 12 September 2009. Before his mission in New York, Caccia served as Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State from 2002 to 2009, when Pietro Parolin was Under-Secretary for Relations with States at the Secretariat of State.
He was then sent as Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon from 2009 to 2017, then to the Philippines from 2017 to 2019, before being transferred to the Holy See’s mission to the United Nations.
The moves of the discreet Secretary of State
The appointment to Washington had effectively become public knowledge once the request for agrément had been submitted, but Pietro Parolin had already begun to plan the move in June. In this context one should also place what Silere non possum highlighted in a recent article on the Dicastery for Communication: Andrea Tornielli, at Parolin’s prompting, had given space on Vatican News to several interventions by Caccia. The operation followed a precise logic: to bring the prelate back to the centre of attention and to help prepare the ground for his new posting. This appointment now places Caccia in a posting of the highest importance on both the ecclesial and diplomatic levels. The United States, in fact, remains a decisive arena both for the life of the Church and for international balances. In this context, the choice of a diplomat formed at Villa Nazareth is anything but accidental: it is a considered decision, followed with particular care by Pietro Parolin, who, also in light of developments after the Conclave, was unable to bring Caccia into the Secretariat of State in the role he had wished to entrust to him. Washington thus becomes a posting of considerable weight, intended to make full use of his profile in one of the most delicate dossiers of pontifical diplomacy.
Fr.E.P.
Silere non possum