By Linet Maina
PRETORIA, JULY 19, 2024 (CISA) – Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Henryk Jagodzinski as the Apostolic Nuncio to Namibia and Eswatini.
Currently serving as the papal diplomat in South Africa and Lesotho, Archbishop Jagodzinski, will represent the Holy See in the four neighbouring Southern African countries.
In his new role, he takes over from Archbishop Peter Brian Wells who was appointed to Thailand and Cambodia in February 2023 after seven years of serving the Holy See in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini.
On April 16, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Jagodziński, a native of Poland who has been serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana and Titular Archbishop of Limosano, as his new representative to South Africa and Lesotho.
The Polish papal diplomat appointed to Ghana in May 2020 was born on January 1, 1969. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 3, 1995, and incardinated in the Catholic Diocese of Kielce, Poland.
After obtaining a degree in Canon Law he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on July 1, 2001.
He has served various Pontifical Representatives, including those in Belarus, Croatia, India, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, he has also worked in the Third Section of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, the Section for Relations with States. He speaks Polish, Italian, French, English, Croatian, Russian and Spanish.
The Apostolic Nunciature in Namibia was established on September 12, 1995, and in Eswatini on March 11, 1992, with the nuncio resident in South Africa. Eswatini only has one diocese- the Catholic Diocese of Manzini, while Namibia comprises two dioceses and one apostolic vicariate.
