Changes at the Secretariat of State

As was announced in June, today the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Sodano as Secretary of State and has named Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., up to now Archbishop of Genoa, as his replacement.

Also as announced in June, today the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka as President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State and President of the Governatorato of the Vatican City State and has named Archbishop Giovanni Lajojo, up to now Secretary of the Section for Relations with States at the Secretariat of State, as his replacement.

The Holy Father has named as the new Secretary of the Section for Relations with States Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, 54, up to now Apostolic Nuncio to Sudan and Eritrea. Archbishop Mamberti was born in Marrakech, Morocco, and was ordained a priest in 1981 for the Diocese of Ajaccio, France. He has degrees in civil and canon law. He entered the Holy See’s Diplomatic Service in 1986 and served in Algeria, Chile, the UN, and Lebanon and in the Section for Relations with States. In 2002 he was named Apostolic Nuncio to Sudan as well as Apostolic Delegate to Somalia and was ordained a bishop with the dignity of archbishop. In 2004 he was also named Apostolic Nuncio to Eritrea.

He knows French, Italian, English and Spanish.