Archbishop Fitzgerald appointed apostolic nuncio to Egypt

Pope Benedict has made Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, apostolic nuncio to Egypt. Archbishop Fitzgerald will also serve as the Vatican's representative to the Arab League. The Vatican announcement of Archbishop Fitzgerald new assignment, released yesterday, did not include the name of his successor at the Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Archbishop Fitzgerald will replace Archbishop Marco Dino Brogi, who has been apostolic nuncio in Egypt and delegate to the Arab League for the past four years. The Arab League headquarters are located in Cairo. A native of Birmingham, Archbishop Fitzgerald joined the White Fathers and was ordained a missionary priest in 1961. After studies in Rome and London he taught at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic studies, serving as director of that institute from 1972 to 1978. He was raised to the rank of archbishop in 2002 when he became president of the Pontifical Council. After his election last April, Pope Benedict confirmed all of the leaders of the Roman Curia in the positions they had held under Pope John Paul II. Aside from naming Archbishop William Joseph Levada as his own replacement at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the only significant change the Pope had made in the leadership of the Curia, prior to yesterday's announcement, was the replacement of Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship.