The apostolic nuncio in Poland will soon be replaced, according to a report by the Polish PAP news agency.Backing a report that had previously appeared in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper, PAP reports that Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk (pic'd here) will be replaced later this year by Spanish Archbishop Santos April y Castello, who is currently serving as nuncio in Slovenia.
The PAP report has not been confirmed by the Vatican, and rumors about the nuncio’s replacement have circulated regularly for the past two years.
When questioned about the story, Archbishop Kowalczyk told a Rzeczpospolita reporter that he would welcome a new assignment “because there is so much work.”
The suggestions that a change is likely have become more frequent following the controversy over the sudden resignation of Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus in January, just prior to his scheduled installation as head of the Warsaw archdiocese.
Church leaders both in Poland and in Rome were unhappy with the background investigation that led to the Wielgus appointment-- although it is not clear whether the responsibility for the failure to question the nominee’s past should be attributed primarily to the nuncio in Poland or the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops.
Archbishop Kowalczyk, a native of Poland, was a close associate and sometime skiing companion of the late Pope John Paul II (bio - news).
He has served as the papal representative in Poland since 1989.
According to the PAP report, the outgoing nuncio, who is 69, will not receive another diplomatic assignment when he is replaced, but will probably be named to head a Polish archdiocese.
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce