Archbishop Charles John Brown, the new papal nuncio to the Philippines, met with Pope Francis last week.
Archbishop Brown, a 61-year-old American theologian, was received by the pope during a private audience in the Vatican on October 23.
Also present during the audience was Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The meeting took place a few days after the papal envoy ended his tour of duty in Albania where he was assigned for the last three years.
Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Brown apostolic nuncio to the Philippines on September 28.
As papal envoy, he will represent the Vatican State in Philippine government official functions while representing the Holy Father in the local Church.
In many Catholic countries like the Philippines, the nuncio is also the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.
Archbishop Brown is not a career diplomat, but in 2011 Pope Benedict XVI named him the papal nuncio to Ireland after several years of working in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The post in the Philippines was vacant since November 2019, when Pope Francis transferred Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia to the United Nations in New York as head of the Holy See’s Permanent Observer mission.
No date has been announced yet as to when the papal envoy will assume his new post in Manila.
