Uruguayan Ambassador Carriquiry begins new Vatican role

By Vatican News

Uruguayan jurist Guzmán Carriquiry Lecour is certainly one of the best-known faces in the Roman Curia.

He began his service at the Vatican in the early 1970s when Paul VI was Pope.

In July, Uruguay designated Carriquiry as the Latin American nation’s Ambassador to the Holy See.

He presented his credential letters to Pope Francis at an audience on Saturday, marking the official start to his diplomatic mission.

Extensive Vatican career

Born in Montevideo on 20 April 1944, Carriquiry is married with 4 children. 

A trained jurist and the author of several books, he began his career at the Holy See in 1974, when Pope Paul VI called him to join the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Later, in 1977, the Pope appointed him as office manager.

Pope John Paul II then counted him among the superiors of that dicastery, appointing him undersecretary.

In 2005, he was confirmed in this role by the Pope Benedict XVI. Then, in 2011, the Pope named him Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which coordinates—together with the Congregation for Bishops and the Pope—the activities of the Holy See in Latin America.

A personal friend of Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio for many years, on 2 May 2014, he received from Pope Francis the task of "Secretary-in-charge of the Vice-Presidency" of the same commission.

He was the first lay person to hold such a high position in a dicastery of the Roman Curia.