Pope appoints new Secretary of Dicastery for Evangelization

By Devin Watkins

Nigerian-born Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu has been appointed as the Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches.

The Holy See Press Office announced the papal appointment on Wednesday.

Archbishop Nwachukwu, the titular Archbishop of Acquaviva, has served since 17 December 2021 as the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva and to the World Trade Organization.

He also served as the Representative of the Holy See to the International Organization for Migration.

Brief biography

Born on 10 May 1960, Archbishop Nwachukwu was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Umuahia, in Nigeria, on 17 June 1984, and was later incardinated into the Diocese of Aba on 2 April 1990.

In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua, and made him the Titular Archbishop of Acquaviva.

He later served in the Antilles from 2017 as the Apostolic Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago, as well as to Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, and Guyana.

Archbishop Nwachukwu also took on the role of Apostolic Nuncio to Saint Lucia, Grenada, Bahamas, Suriname, and Belize in 2018.