Pope Leo XIV has appointed Mons. Edgar Peña Parra as the new apostolic nuncio in Italy and San Marino, in a decision announced this Sunday at the end of the Angelus. Peña Parra will leave his position as Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, where he will be replaced by Mons. Paolo Rudelli, until now nuncio in Colombia.
The announcement was made by Cardinal Pietro Parolin before the Secretariat of State gathered in the Library of the Apostolic Palace, as reported by the Holy See.
The information, which had already been anticipated a few weeks ago, when the name of Rudelli emerged as a possible successor to Peña Parra in the Secretariat of State, represents a change both in one of the most relevant positions in the Vatican and in one of the diplomatic representations with the greatest institutional weight.
New Substitute for the General Affairs of the Secretariat of State
Rudelli is considered an experienced diplomat within the Holy See’s foreign service, and his appointment represents a change with a clearly diplomatic profile in a position that in recent years has been at the center of various internal tensions.
His rise has been marked by direct appointments during the pontificate of Francis, who designated him archbishop and nuncio, in addition to entrusting him with missions in complex contexts such as Zimbabwe and Colombia.
Peña Parra leaves the Secretariat of State
Peña Parra has held the position of Substitute for General Affairs since 2018, a strategic position within the Vatican organizational chart, through which most ordinary government matters pass.
His name has been linked in recent years to controversies related to internal management and the so-called Sloane Avenue case, in addition to an opaque history in his years of training in Venezuela, although he remained in the position with Francis’s favor.