Pope appoints new Papal Nuncio to UK

Pope Francis meets Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía on 20 March 2023. Image: Vatican Media.

Source: Vatican Media

Pope Francis has appointed His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía as Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.

Born in Madrid on 19 November 1955, Archbishop Maury Buendía studied philosophy and theology at the Conciliar Seminary of Madrid before being ordained a priest for the Archdiocese on 26 June 1980.

He followed a two-year program of studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, and entered the Holy See's diplomatic service in July 1987, serving in diplomatic missions in several countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco, Nicaragua, Egypt, Slovenia and Ireland.

In 2004, he was called to the Section for Relations with States within the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Four years later, in 2008, he was appointed titular Archbishop of Italica and Apostolic Nuncio to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Romania on 5 December 2015, and to the Republic of Moldova on 25 January 2016.

He was appointed the Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St. James's on 13 April 2023, filling a post vacant since the previous Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, was named prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches on 21 November 2022.

Commenting on the news, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: "I welcome the appointment of Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía as Papal Nuncio to Great Britain. On behalf of our Bishops' Conference, I assure him not only of our warm welcome but also of our full cooperation when he takes up these new responsibilities."