Pope appoints new Substitute, Nuncio to Italy, and Prefect of Papal Household

From Colombia to the Secretariat of State, from the Secretariat of State to the Nunciature in Italy, from the Nunciature in Italy to the Prefecture of the Papal Household. Today a round of appointments were announced within the Holy See.

Pope Leo XIV has chosen Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, who will turn 56 in July, to be the new Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, one of the most important and sensitive positions in the entire Vatican apparatus, effectively a kind of “Interior Minister” of the Vatican City State.

Ordained a priest in 1995 and incardinated in Bergamo, Archbishop Rudelli holds a degree in moral theology and has until now served as Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia. He assumed that post in 2023 following his appointment by Pope Francis, who had consecrated him Bishop in 2019 and sent him, in January 2020, as his representative to Zimbabwe.

The prelate's experience in the Holy See’s diplomatic service, however, dates back over twenty years to 2001, with assignments in the Pontifical Representations in Ecuador and Poland, and in the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.

Today, by the will of Pope Leo XIV, he becomes the head of that Section, marking the Pope's second significant appointment in the Secretariat of State, following last November’s appointment of the Assessor, the Nigerian theologian and canonist Anthony Onyemuche Ekpo, previously Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.