Asking for prayers for His Excellency, Catholic Communications says the 66-year old's condition is now stable.

Rugambwa is Pope Francis' Nuncio (ambassador ) to New Zealand, Fiji, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Naru, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, Micronesia and Apostolic delegate to the Pacific Ocean.

This is his fourth year in this role after the Pope appointed him Nuncio on 29 March 2019.

Rugambwa's responsibilities

Rugambwa's responsibilities include recommending to Cardinal Luis Tagle in Rome those priests who would be suitable for appointment as bishops.

The Cardinal leads the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelisation.

In this regard, Rugambwa's term as the Pope's ambassador has been demanding.

Not long after his arrival, Rugambwa faced the resignation of high-profile Palmerston North bishop Charles Drennan. It took him over four years to find a replacement.

In between times, Auckland's Bishop Patrick Dunn retired. Bishop Steve Lowe from the Hamilton Diocese replaced him.

Lowe's move to Auckland left a gap in Hamilton, while Palmerston North's vacancy needed filling as well.

New Zealand bishops stressed

Thankfully, the four-year wait is now over and both vacancies have been filled. Not without some urging, which involved the remaining New Zealand Catholic bishops going public about their concerns.

Two new bishops were desperately needed for the Palmerston North and Hamilton dioceses, they said.

Their voices were heard, and one - John Adams - was recently ordained Bishop of Palmerston North.

At Adams' ordination, presiding bishop Steve Lowe, Bishop of Auckland - who is also the Apostolic Administrator of the Hamilton diocese - light-heartedly reminded the that the Hamilton diocese also needs a new bishop.

In a matter of weeks, the Church announced Richard Laurenson as Bishop-elect.

Pallium ceremony to go ahead

As the papal ambassador, Rugambwa was scheduled on Sunday to present Archbishop Paul Martin with his Pallium from Pope Francis.

The Pallium is a distinctive garment given to archbishops and bishops with metropolitan jurisdiction.

It does not elevate the archbishop's status. Rather, it shows a tangible representation of the unity between Rome and the local church.

Initially, Rugambwa's hospitalisation led authorities to advise postponing the presentation.

However, a later communication says the Pallium presentation should proceed this coming Sunday, 5 November, as scheduled.

Sources

• NZCBC Communications
• Wikipedia
• CathNews
• CathNews
• CathNews

Acerbi's diplomatic career included being held hostage by guerillas in Colombia and becoming the first nuncio to Hungary after the end of communism.

Now 94, Acerbi is retired and lives in the Vatican in the Casa Santa Marta guest house, the home of Pope Francis and where the New Zealand bishops are staying during their Ad Limina.

The archbishop's very first appointment as Apostolic Nuncio was to New Zealand and the Pacific from 1974 to 1979.

Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe says Archbishop Acerbi enjoys good health and maintains a fantastic memory.

"He has enjoyed connecting with us during our visit," said Lowe.

"As bishops, we have often commented about the loneliness of the life of a nuncio, but Acerbi has a wealth of stories of encounters in New Zealand and the Pacific with clergy, religious and laypeople."

Italian-born Acerbi was ordained in 1948, so this is his 71st year ordained.

His Wellington-based nuncio appointment was followed by others in Colombia, Hungary, Moldova and the Netherlands.

In 1980 he was held hostage with 26 other diplomats for several weeks in Bogotá, Colombia, after an assault by the M-19 urban guerilla group on the Embassy of the Dominican Republic.

His appointment to Hungary in 1990 after the end of communism was significant because there had been no apostolic nuncio to that country since the communist takeover in 1945.

"He still has an active interest in our region and the life of the Church and society in our part of the world," said Lowe.

"He clearly has a beautiful faith and love that reflects a life of faithful service of the Lord and his Church. His presence has been one of the unexpected joys of these days in Rome."

Photo caption: from left Bishop Paul Martin SM (Christchurch), Bishop Patrick Dunn (Auckland), Cardinal John Dew (Wellington) Archbishop Angelo Acerbi, Bishop Stephen Lowe (Hamilton) and Bishop Michael Dooley (Dunedin).

Source
Supplied. David McLoughlin
Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops
Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa

Former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 67, was found dead "during the first hours of the morning", the Vatican said in a statement on August 28.

He was reportedly found in a room with the television turned on at 5 am by a Franciscan priest who works as a confessor at St Peter's Basilica.

Wesolowski had been under modified house arrest.

The Vatican stated that initial autopsy results indicated a "cardiac event".

Further detail on the cause of death could come from subsequent laboratory results, the Vatican added.

Pope Francis "has been duly informed" of the death, the Vatican stated.

Wesolowski served as the Pope's representative to the Dominican Republic until being accused of sexual misconduct with minors in 2013.

The first and only hearing of the former nuncio's trial in the Vatican took place on July 11, but was suspended when he failed to appear.

The court heard that Wesolowski had been transferred to the intensive care unit of a public hospital following the onset of an unexpected illness.

The July hearing by the Vatican city-state court was the first such hearing by the court for an allegation of sexual abuse of minors.

Wesolowski was also being charged by Vatican authorities for accessing pornographic material involving children after being removed from the Dominican Republic and during his reported house arrest.

The criminal charges against the Polish national became possible after 2013, when Pope Francis approved new criminal laws applicable to all Vatican employees across the world.

Any direct employee of the Holy See, including those working in a nunciature, can face a criminal trial at the Vatican as well as criminal prosecution in the country where the alleged crimes occurred.

Wesolowski was dismissed from the clerical state in June 2014 after an investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• Crux Now
• Image: Angelus News

In a lengthy interview in the Irish Times, Archbishop Charles Brown said this was because "when the Pope asks someone to be a bishop, it's a very personal invitation".

None of the ten bishops appointed under Archbishop Brown's watch in Ireland was from the diocese he now leads.

The archbishop said appointments from outside dioceses was "not an absolute rule written in stone".

But he said it is "fair to say that in the Church universal, generally, for the past probably 10 or 15 years the tendency has been to appoint new bishops from outside dioceses".

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His is the first trial in the Holy See's criminal court of a senior official on charges of paedophilia and possession of child pornography.

Wesołowski, a former archbishop, was the nuncio to the Dominican Republic.

There, he is alleged to have paid teenage boys for sex.

The trial of the 66-year-old Pole was suspended on Saturday and postponed until a later date, yet to be announced.

No further details of his medical condition were given by the Vatican.

Pope Francis recalled Wesołowski to Rome in August, 2013, after he was made aware of the claims against him.

Wesolowski has since been defrocked.

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Former Archbishop Josef Wesolowski is the first high-ranking official to face Vatican criminal charges for sexually abusing young people.

He had already been laicised in June after a canonical trial.

On Tuesday, the Vatican City State's separate criminal court opened a preliminary hearing into his case.

A Vatican spokesman said the decision to place Wesolowski under house arrest, rather than hold him in a police cell, was taken on account of his health.

Wesolowski presented documentation as to his health condition at the preliminary hearing.

The Vatican has a few small detention rooms inside its police barracks, but no long-term facilities.

A Vatican spokesman said the arrest reflected Pope Francis's wish "that such a grave and delicate case be handled without delay, with the just and necessary rigour".

The Holy See recalled the Polish-born Wesolowski in August, 2013, after the Archbishop of Santo Domingo told Pope Francis about rumours that Wesolowski had sexually abused teenage boys.

Dominican authorities opened an investigation, but declined initially to press charges since the Vatican had said Wesolowski enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

Poland also opened an investigation.

A Santo Domingo court, though, took the first steps toward possibly charging him last month after the Vatican said he had lost his immunity when he was defrocked and could be prosecuted elsewhere.

Wesolowski could face jail time if found guilty by the Vatican criminal court, which has jurisdiction over crimes committed within the tiny Vatican City State or by any of the Holy See's diplomatic personnel.

The Vatican had faced criticism that it had shielded him by recalling him last year.

Many countries do likewise with diplomatic personnel facing possible criminal charges abroad.

Pope Francis has said no prelate, whether a priest or a cardinal, has any privileges when it comes to sex abuse.

Sources

• Associated Press
• BBC
• Image: BBC

Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters that the Holy See had not received an extradition request and the Vatican would honour its promises to cooperate with officials in the Dominican Republic and in Poland who are investigating the archbishop's conduct

He also revealed that the Vatican is conducting its own criminal investigation in the case.

Last week reports from Poland indicated that the Vatican had refused a request to extradite Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who has been accused of molesting young men both in his native Poland and in the Dominican Republic, where he served as apostolic nuncio until he was recalled to Rome last year.

Source: ucanews.com

Pope Benedict XVI had named Banach, a Vatican diplomat, to be an apostolic nuncio, which carries with it the title of archbishop, in February.

He was born the son of Wallace and Jane Banach. He grew up in Auburn and attended Pakachoag Elementary School and Auburn High School.

He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the College of the Holy Cross, then studied for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome.
He was ordained a priest by Bishop Harrington in St. Paul Cathedral. He served as associate pastor at St. Anne's Parish in Shrewsbury before beginning studies in Rome in 1992 at the Gregorian University and earning a doctorate in Canon Law in 1994.

Banach then joined the Vatican Diplomatic Service. He was named a monsignor on Jan 11, 1996 by Pope John Paul II. He served in Bolivia and Nigeria and, as desk officer for Central Europe for the Vatican Secretary of State, worked in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

He was serving as the Holy See's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (ONUDI), and to the Office of the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• The Catholic Free Press
• Image: Catholic Free Press.com