In April, and reacting to the announcement that Pope Francis had appointed His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía as Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, Bishop Hugh Gilbert had stated:
“I offer a warm welcome to Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and look forward to welcoming him to Scotland in due course. I can assure him of the promise of our prayers as he takes up his important post”
The Apostolic or Papal Nuncio is the Vatican representative accredited as an ecclesiastical ambassador to a civil government that maintains official diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The Nuncio is thus tasked on behalf of the Holy Father as his representative, to promote good relations between the Scottish Government, its Church and the Holy See, and observes and reports to the Pope on the conditions of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and elsewhere.
Commenting on the visit of the Papal Nuncio at Mass yesterday evening (15th August), Bishop Hugh said: “It was a pleasure and an honour to welcome to the diocese and city of Aberdeen Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia, the Papal Nuncio, to Great Britain. As Nuncio, he has the mission of representing Pope Francis to the local Church and the country. A man with wide diplomatic pastoral experience embracing Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, I am confident he will serve the Church in Great Britain well. On the solemnity of the Assumption, he presided at Mass in a packed cathedral, presenting his credentials to the Bishop as the current president of the Bishops Conference of Scotland.”
The Archbishop was born in 1955 in Madrid and has worked in the Holy See’s diplomatic service in several countries including Africa, Latin America and Europe, and more recently as Nuncio in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and in Romania and Moldova.
