At a Mass in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica, Friday evening, Pope Francis will ordain Father Michael Czerny and Monsignors Paolo Borgia, Antoine Camilleri and Paolo Rudelli as bishops.
By Vatican News
Pope Francis is celebrating a Eucharistic Celebration in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica Friday evening, during which he will ordain four new bishops. They are Jesuit priest Father Michael Czerny and Monsignors Paolo Borgia, Antoine Camilleri and Paolo Rudelli.
Michael Czerny
Fr. Czerny is the Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1946 and entered the Society of Jesus in Canada in 1963. In 1973 he was ordained a priest and in 1978 he obtained a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Chicago.
In 1979, he founded the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice and directed it until 1989 when he was transferred to San Salvador after the assassination of the Jesuits at the Central American University where he became Vice Rector of the University and Director of the Institute for Human Rights.
From 1992-2002 he was the Secretary for Social Justice at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and afterwards founded and directed the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN), a network sustained by the Jesuits in Africa committed to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic there. Beginning in 2005 he taught at Hekima College at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, collaborating with the Episcopal Conference of Kenya. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI nominated him an expert for the Second Synod of African Bishops.
Since 2010 he has been a consultor for the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and in December 2016, Pope Francis nominated him Undersecretary of the Migrant and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. In October 2018 he was a Member of the Synod of Bishops on Young People and in 2019 he became a special secretary for the Synod on the Amazon.
Pope Francis on September 1, announced Fr. Czerny as one of the 13 new cardinals of the Catholic Church. The Holy Father will make him a cardinal at the consistory in the Vatican the following day, Saturday, along with the others.
Paolo Borgia
Italian Mons. Paolo Borgia, the assessor for General Affairs of the Vatican Secretariat of State, was appointed Apostolic Nuncio by Pope Francis on September 3.
Born on 18 March 1966 in Manfredonia, he was ordained a priest on 10 April 1999 in the Diocese of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo (Italy). He holds a degree in canon law.
Msgr. Borgia entered the Holy See diplomatic service on 1 December 2001, and has served in the Pontifical Representations in the Central African Republic, Mexico, Israel, and Lebanon. He also served in the Section for Relations with States of the Vatican Secretariat of State and in the Section for General Affairs of the same Secretariat of State. He was appointed as assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State on 4 March 2016. He speaks English, Spanish and French.
Antoine Camilleri
Maltese Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, the Undersecretary for Relations with States of the Vatican Secretariat of State, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Malta. He was born on 20 August 1965 in Sliema, and was ordained a priest on 5 July 1991.
He graduated in Law and Canon Law. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 9 January 1999 and worked at the Pontifical Representations in Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Cuba and at the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State. On 22 February 2013, he was appointed Undersecretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State. He is fluent in seven languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian.
Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio on 3 September.
Paolo Rudelli
Italian Msgr. Paolo Rudelli of the Diocese of Bergamo is the Holy See Special Envoy and Permanent Observer at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Born on 16 July 1970 in Gazzaniga, he was ordained priest on 10 June 1995.
He holds a license in Canon Law and a degree in Moral Theology. Having entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 July 2001, Msgr. Rudelli worked in the Holy See’s mission in Ecuador and Poland and in the General Affairs Section of the Vatican Secretariat of State. He speaks five languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish and Polish. Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio on 3 September.
