Filipino Monsignor Arnaldo Catalan, the new apostolic nuncio to Rwanda, will be ordained as an archbishop in Manila, his home archdiocese.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will be the principal consecrator at the Manila Cathedral on February 11, said a report on CBCP News.
Cardinal Tagle will be assisted by Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila and Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, who will serve as co-consecrators.
On January 31, Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Catalan, Chargé d’Affaires of the diplomatic mission of the Holy See in the Republic of China (Taiwan), as nuncio to the east African nation.
In keeping with the practice of nuncios having the rank of archbishop, Msgr. Catalan was also designated with the Titular See of Apollonia.
“Iuxta Misericordiam non Deficimus (through mercy, we are not discouraged)” was chosen by the 55-year-old archbishop-elect as his episcopal motto.
His appointment as papal envoy makes him the fifth in the line of Filipino nuncios and the first from the Manila archdiocese.
He has been in the Vatican’s diplomatic service for the past 20 years and served in Zambia, Kuwait, Mexico, Honduras, Turkey, India, Argentina, Canada, and the Philippines.
